Anna Bui
Jun 29, 2022
Objects as History – Formal Analysis Paper
DONG SON DRUM-BASIN: DESIGN FOR CULTURAL RETENTION
The Dong Son Drum is the most famous artifact of the Southeast Asian Dong Son culture, a complex society of farmers and sailors who lived in what is now Northern Vietnam for its excellence in primitive metalworks and intricate bronze carvings. The Drum-basin, a subsequent revision of the traditional drum – used both as a musical instrument and a household item – found throughout the Red River Delta, was made by the Au Lac people around 179 BC. At this point in history, Au Lac lost in a series of fights against the Han dynasty of China, which commenced a thousand years of dependency and colonization. Cultural erasure and exploitation followed as China attempted to claim Au Lac as a Han colony. Amidst a time of Han suppression, the subtle reversible design and visual motif of the Dong Son Drum-basin revealed an admirable effort to conserve the cultural identities of the Au Lac community.
The Drum-basin, like other Dong Son Drums, is made of bronze. Considered “one of the most astounding examples of ancient metalworking”1, these drums were cast using the lost-wax technique – in which metal duplicates of a wax object can be made using a mold. A Dong Son Drum-basin, unlike the iconic hourglass shape of the traditional drum, is shaped more similarly to a household basin than a drum for camouflage purposes. It is flared at the rim, tucked in gradually as the basin wall approaches the bottom surface, and hollowed—which functions as a container when its inside is exposed and carries the acoustic of a drum when faced down. This feature is highly beneficial at a time when owning a Dong Son Drum was prohibited by the prevalent governing bodies – its reversibility allows the drum to disguise as a basin upon authority inspection.
Decoration of the Dong Son Drum-basin is a fascinating subject of study. When positioned like a basin (fig. 1), observers only see a delicately carved fish, a traditional Han crockery embellishment. It was made primarily of curves which gave the engraving a sense of movement but lacked symmetry, which juxtaposed the patterns and decorations meant for an Au Lac audience outside the Drum-basin.
When used as a drum (fig. 2), the Han fish decoration is not seen; instead, the 8-wing sun symbol at the other side of the Drum-basin’s bottom––a known emblem of any Dong Son Drum, glistens under the sun. Vietnamese scholars have since been able to identify the icon as the Solar Star, the central axis of Dong Son cosmology2. Decorations on this side are radially symmetrical – with each axis emanating from a spike of the Solar Star and a total of three rings, one larger than its predecessor, overlapping the Solar Star at the center. As one moves along the empty ring that precedes the star, a series of repeated, unrecognizable patterns (fig. 3) reveals itself on the third ring—composed of three circle motifs, one further away from the other two; left-facing curves extending from the circles; and straight, diagonal lines which filled any negative spaces of the pattern. There was no information on this pattern despite its appearances in other Dong Son Drums and Drum-basins made around this period, though many theorized it was a local plant/crop. From the lack of human symbols, there is a possibility that we observed a type C drum—a division of the Dong Son Drum that specifically features nature-inspired designs to wish for rain and agricultural fertility, a pivotal aspect in the lives of Au Lac society.
Lastly, the outermost ring on the surface of the drum depicts the renowned Lac bird pattern arranged counterclockwise – a traditional Dong Son Drum decoration that channel wishes for good luck and eternal happiness, much needed amidst a period of forced cultural conversions by the Han. Only an Au Lac audience could understand the embellishments on this side of the drum for their roots in local nursery rhymes. Bronze is a sturdy material while still malleable enough for etching, making it the perfect material for an instrument and household object dual such as the Drum-basin; however, its oxidation has led to some destruction of the fine engravings on the body of the drum.
The brilliant design and skillful craftsmanship of the Dong Son Drum-basin revealed the ancient Vietnamese’s blazing sense of nationalism and cultural identity that no colonizer or conquerors can extinguish. As one observes the Drum-basin in the History Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, one cannot help but imagine oneself experiencing the Drum-basin in both contexts. How peaceful would it be to celebrate a good harvest alongside the metallic, bright, resonant sound of a Dong Son Drum, then return and prepare for another ordinary day with the drum as a mundane basin?
1 Wilhelm G. Solheim II, “A Brief History of the Dong Son Concept,” Asian Perspectives 28, no. 1 (1988-1989): 23.
2 Peter Northover, “The Dong Son Ritual Gold Drum,” Arts of Southeast Asia, June 2020, https://artsofsoutheastasia.com/the-dong-son-ritual-gold-drum/.
Bibliography
1. Northover, Peter. “The Dong Son Ritual Gold Drum.” Arts of Southeast Asia, June 2020, https://artsofsoutheastasia.com/the-dong-son-ritual-gold-drum/.
2. Solheim II, Wilhelm. “ A Brief History of the Dong Son Concept.” Asian Perspectives 28, no.1 (1988-1989): 23-30.
