PORTRAIT OF MADAME MINH NHAN

Original artwork: Portrait of Madame Minh Nhan,

Unknown Artist, c.1850, Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts.

This is an attempt to reconstruct traditional Vietnamese iconography techniques. The preliminary drawing was done with Chinese ink on sized dó paper. Natural pigments (vermillion, raw umber, zinc white) were tempered with hide glue, then applied in an opaque, gouache-liked mixture. Zecchi water-based gold leaf glue was used as the mordant for the water gilding process. The unadhered gold leaves were brushed away using a soft goat hair brush, revealing glorious gold patterns.

(Note: Traditionally, the resin of cluster fig was often used as a mordant. However, this was not available because the technique is long-lost and requires more profound research).