Portrait of the Second Courtier, Imperial Commissioner of Mountain – Divine Portraits Project x Camelia Pham

This is the second painting by Camelia Pham for our project Divine Portraits. This artwork portrays the Second Courtier, Imperial Commissioner of Mountain. The theme colors include green, for it is the representative color of the Mountains Palace [Nhạc Phủ], as well as purple and indigo since they are also frequently associated with this Palace.

Since the Second Courtier attends the Mother Goddess of Mountain in the Mountain Palace, the background features the mountainous landscape of Vietnam. Lush vines wrap around her chair’s armrests. There are also floral patterns on the two columns behind her back.

She is holding three mini-torches in her right hand. It was inspired by the legend that the Courtier guided the troops of Emperor Lê Lợi through dark forests by using a flame that the Míng enemy couldn’t see. That’s why she closes her eyes in this painting, as we imagined the flame is spiritual and one can’t just see it with bare eyes but one’s true heart.

Her left hand is holding the Red Veil, an utterly sacred object of the Mother Goddess religion. Each and every thanh đồng (pure priest) will receive their own Red Veil on the day they take the rite of passage to become a priest. The Second Courtier is believed to be the deity who “shares the Red Veil” with the newly-approved priest.

Her costumes, in the Lê dynasty’s style, include three layers. The innermost and middle layers are Giao Lĩnh (crossed-collared robes). The outermost layer is Viên Lĩnh (round-collared robe).

Her headwear, khăn buồm, is an item a thanh đồng (priest) almost always dons when serving the reflection of the Second Courtier. We took inspiration from the costumes of senior thanh đồng Lưu Ngọc Đức (reference posted in the comment section)

She’s wearing a silver collar inspired by the jewelry of Vietnam’s ethnic minority in the Northern area (reference posted in the comment section). There are a pair of purple amethyst gems adorning the collar.

The inspiration for the costumes is mainly from the book Weaving A Realm by Vietnam Centre

All of the patterns in the painting are from the Lê dynasty, provided by the vector collection Hoa Văn Đại Việt.