Two distinctive mythical creatures of Vietnamese culture are the crane and the nghê. However, in the past two hundred years, dragons and qilins have often been used to decorate temples, pagodas, and grand residences, such as the two white qilins at the entrance of Vĩnh Nghiêm Pagoda in Saigon. Large Vietnamese houses, both abroad and domestically, also use qilin statues for decoration. The crane has been a symbol since the Hùng kings established the Văn Lang state, but when did the nghê first appear? Perhaps during the Lý dynasty when pure Vietnamese culture was revived and developed after a thousand years of Chinese domination. Despite being a purely Vietnamese symbol, the nghê is not widely known.
In the lives of Vietnamese people, two animals are considered the closest and most important friends: the buffalo and the dog. Buffaloes are used for plowing fields and producing rice, while dogs guard homes against thieves and wild animals. In the spiritual life, our ancestors also needed a mythical creature to fend off evil spirits, hence the stone dog was erected. In the northern Vietnamese countryside, a stone dog is always placed at the village gate to protect the entire village, at the communal house gate, and often at the house entrance to guard the owner. These stone dogs vary in shape, typically about half a meter to a meter tall, often carved from large stones with majestic features, but sometimes just a rock shaped to resemble a sitting dog. (Stone dogs are also mentioned in folk tales such as “The Student and the Stone Dog,” “Two Brothers and the Stone Dog” – read: Ôn Như Nguyễn Văn Ngọc, Vietnamese Folktales).
When placed in front of altars or in the homes of wealthy families, communal houses, temples, and shrines, the stone dog becomes sacred. It is carved with majestic details, with a dog’s head and face full of solemn features. Because of its sacredness, it is called a nghê.
The nghê is also used to decorate ancient communal houses in Vietnam. It is carved on the horizontal beams or placed on the ridgepoles, such as in the communal houses of An Hòa (Hà Nam), Phất Lộc (Thái Bình), Hội Thống (Hà Tĩnh), Phù Lão (Bắc Giang), Trung Cần (Nghệ An), and Tây Đằng (Sơn Tây). In the early 1950s in Thái Bình, my maternal grandfather had a nearly one-meter-tall nghê statue at the entrance to his living room along with Kangxi and Ming Dynasty ceramics. This nghê statue has since been lost.
Therefore, the nghê is a purely Vietnamese mythical creature, created to protect the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. The nghê is often seen in ceramic items, which can be exemplified below.
A Nghê statue: Based on the glaze, color, and clay, this is likely a work from the Lý Dynasty (11th-12th centuries). This nghê stands about 36cm tall, made of terracotta and covered with a brown glaze. The detailed carvings are extremely delicate, making the nghê appear lively and majestic, as if it could instantly drive away evil spirits. The nghê has a short face, a slender and elegant body, a collar with tassels around its neck, and its head held high. Its back fur stands upright like a crest running from the head to the tail. Its legs are thin but strong, with muscular thighs, and its front legs are upright with curly hair around the knees. The nghê has large eyes, a big mouth with sharp canine teeth visible, as if ready to ward off evil. Its ears are large, and its fur is sleek with carved lines running from the back down to the belly, resembling dog stripes.
Nghê-shaped wine jars: We present two nghê-shaped wine jars, one brown and one black. The nghê is in a sitting posture similar to the description above, although the details are less sharp. The nghê sits on a jar with a round top and a cylindrical bottom. The nghê’s body is hollow, with a spout on its back for pouring wine (the cap is missing, so it’s unclear if it was made of clay, wood, or rolled leaves). Wine is poured out through a long spout extending from the jar, resembling a stake with a chain tethered to the nghê.
Nghê-shaped incense burners: The glaze color, quality, and firing technique suggest these are Chu Đậu (16th-18th centuries) pieces rather than Lý or Trần Dynasty works. The incense burners consist of two parts: a small rectangular box for burning incense and a lid with a nghê sitting on a flat surface, perfectly covering the lower part. The nghê’s body is hollow, allowing smoke to pass through and escape from its slightly open mouth, creating a solemn appearance. The incense burns slowly due to the enclosed box, emitting enough fragrant smoke to maintain a sacred atmosphere for hours.
There are also some 13th-14th century incense bowls with dog figures instead of nghê. These bowls are half-bowl, half-plate shaped, with a seated dog figure in the center. Incense sticks are placed horizontally across the bowl, resting on the dog’s head.
Another type consists of two parts, with the lower part likely used for burning incense. Smoke passes through the seated dog figure in the middle and escapes from its mouth. When not burning incense, sticks are placed on the dog’s head.
The nghê is a unique symbol of Vietnamese culture, while the qilin belongs to Chinese culture. In appearance, the qilin resembles a lion with horns, buffalo-like legs, a round body with dragon scales, a mouth holding a ball, or sitting with a paw on a ball. The nghê has a crest but no horns, a slender body, dog-like legs, and an elegant posture, clearly resembling a dog rather than a round-bodied lion. The nghê’s tail is long and curls over its back, while the qilin’s tail is short and fan-shaped or curled like a rabbit’s tail.
Some people mistakenly believe that the nghê is a lion because the Chinese character “nghê” (or “toan nghê”) means lion. However, many Sino-Vietnamese characters have different meanings in Vietnamese culture. For example, the Vietnamese adopted Chinese characters but changed their meanings (the French often studied Chinese characters when researching Vietnam, leading to misunderstandings). For instance, “tử tế” means “meticulous” in Chinese but “kind” in Vietnamese; “lịch sự” means “experienced” in Chinese but “polite” in Vietnamese; “trân trọng” means “precious” but is used as “respectful” in Vietnamese. Similarly, the Vietnamese didn’t care that “nghê” meant lion in Chinese; they used it to name the sacred stone dog. If anyone has seen a nghê statue, they would recognize it as a sitting dog rather than a lion or qilin. Some researchers, without firsthand observation, mistakenly identify the Vietnamese nghê as a Chinese lion or qilin. Our approach emphasizes direct observation and listening to village elders, alongside research and comparison. Thus, in addition to carvings on horizontal beams, nghê statues on ridgepoles and village gates, we rely on our collection of nghê statues and wine jars.
During the Chinese domination, when the Chinese attempted to destroy Vietnamese culture (confiscating and destroying bronze drums, forcing Vietnamese to adopt Chinese surnames, etc.), it’s unclear whether our ancestors created stone dogs and nghê. Observing the lives of ethnic minorities in the highlands, where dogs remain vital, we can infer that stone dogs and nghê may have ancient origins. However, we haven’t yet discovered ancient nghê artifacts. We hope future research will uncover ancient nghê relics.
After Ngô Quyền regained independence, and Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and Lê Hoàn reorganized the country, the Lý, Trần, and Lê dynasties revived and developed pure Vietnamese culture. Starting from Lý Thái Tổ’s move of the capital from Hoa Lư to Thăng Long, the Vietnamese national spirit flourished. Similar to the Hùng kings’ era, Vietnamese literature, society, politics, and arts blossomed, integrating Chinese and Indian influences into a uniquely Vietnamese culture.
In this cultural renaissance, with the rise of Vietnamese artworks, architecture, and the aristocracy, there was a growing demand for ceremonial and display items. This environment spurred the development of visual arts. Vietnamese artisans, ever creative, produced numerous architectural structures, including purely Vietnamese curved-roof temples. Vietnamese ceramics flourished, combining Chinese techniques and glazes with distinctly Vietnamese designs. From the 11th to the 18th centuries, Lý Trắng, Lý Nâu, Lý Lục, Lý Đen ceramics, and later Chu Đậu ceramics, were produced in abundance and exported to Persia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and beyond.
Based on the quantity and quality of nghê in museums and private collections, the nghê’s heyday was from the Lý Dynasty to the end of the Tây Sơn Dynasty (11th to 18th centuries). Throughout these centuries, the nghê was widely used in common homes, palaces, temples, and shrines. Even during the Trịnh-Nguyễn civil war and 300 years of conflict, Vietnamese culture
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