The 500-year wood sculpting village in Vietnam

Bao Ha Village in Dong Minh Commune, Vinh Bao District, Hai Phong City has been famous for wood sculptures for over 500 years. Recently, bust sculpting has developed strongly in the village.

Bao Ha Village in Dong Minh Commune, Vinh Bao District (Hai Phong) has been famous for wood sculptures for over 500 years. Recently, bust sculpting has developed strongly in the village.

Do Van Buong is one of the few artisans there who possesses a good command of sculpting techniques to make unique busts. His works are not only similar to but also convey the countenance of the model.

Three generations of Do Van Buong’s family are involved in wood sculpture. Do Van Buong started to learn the basic skills of statue making techniques from his father when he was very small. 30 years ago, his maternal grandmother passed away and a statue for worship was needed. With his skills and natural artistic ability, Buong made his very first bust based on an old picture of the late woman.

After the bust was completed, all the members of Buong’s family were surprised because the statue looked exactly the same as the picture. Since then, locals have been coming to him to make busts for their late relatives and bust sculpting has become the main livelihood of his family.

Buong often makes statues of people who have passed away in varying sizes depending on the demand of his customers. It is hard to turn a piece of wood into a statue and he often needs a week or even a month to complete one.

After receiving the orders, Buong often spends time studying the picture of the subject to find a way to sculpt the statue, which helps him produce a statue that not only is identical to but also resembles the expression of the person captured in photos.

Then, he starts to select a piece of wood and cut it into blocks. Jackfruit wood is the most popular because it is durable and easy to sculpt. Sculpting the face is always the hardest part because just a tiny incorrect detail can change the appearance of the face dramatically.

After completing a sculpture, Buong paints the statue with several layers of colours. Once finished, statues are left to dry and then polished with sandpaper to form a smooth surface and remove splinters. In the end, he covers the statues with a layer of golden paint and draws details to finalise the busts.

After nearly 30 years making busts, Buong has sculpted over 5000 statues of every size. He said that besides a skilful sculpting ability, sculptors must have creativeness and a good artistic sense to produce realistic and beautiful busts.