Friday, February 01, 2008

ANCIENT JEWISH LAMPS IN VIET NAM? On display, that is. See the last sentence below.
Fine Arts Museum keeps the lamps on

(31-01-2008) [Viet Nam News)

HCM CITY — Antique aficionados are in for a treat with an exhibition of more than 300 ancient lamps from the personal collection of Nguyen Huu Triet, bishop of Tan Sa Chau Parish in HCM City’s Tan Binh District.

The Fine Arts Museum organised the exhibition in celebration of Tet (Lunar New Year).

The collection features more than 180 lamps that use vegetable oil, animal oil and kerosene, and many of which date back to the 12th and 13th centuries.

There are baked earthen jars with characteristics of the Dong Son and Oc Eo eras, Viet Nam’s oldest known cultures dating from the 1st to 3rd centuries.

Many of the lamps came from Viet Nam’s well-known pottery kilns, such as Bat Trang in northern Viet Nam and Lai Thieu in the south.

The collection includes ancient lamps made in China, France, India, Japan and Israel.

[...]