Gem carved sculptures from Hoi An museum

Happy Buddha, garnet

On a picturesque and crowded with tourists street of the Ancient Town of Hoi An there is a small but interesting museum, the Gemstones Art Museum. It was founded in 2013 by a Vietnamese passionate collector. The museum's exhibition is divided into two sections: one showcases natural gemstone crystals and uncut stones and at another more than two hundred pieces of precious stone sculpture are displayed. In terms of quality and rarity of the stones, the variety of the carvings represented the collection has no comparison in Vietnam. Visitors have a unique chance to get to know and enjoy the great artistic and manual skills of Vietnamese craftsmen. Here are a few examples of the gem carving from the museum's collection

Crafts of Central Asia: ganch carving

Detail of the ganch wall decoration, the Throne Hall, Khudoyar Khan Palace, Kokand, Uzbekistan 

Anyone who has not been to Central Asia is hardly likely to know the meaning of ganch. If one explains what ganch is it may seem highly prosaic: it is neither stone nor clay but something in between. It is obtained by firing a rock containing gypsum and clay and grinding it into a powder which is then mixed with water and a solution of vegetable glue. It then slowly solidifies as it dries out. Its shades range from light gray to light yellow. Ganch carving is one of the unique and ancient forms of artistic crafts of Central Asia.