Empire of Annam: Kim Bài of the Five Honoured Elders "NGŨ VỊ TỒNG ÔNG" in gold. Rectangular gold plate embossed and chased. Decorated with two dragons facing each other in clouds around a flaming star, in the centre on the obverse and on the reverse in a cartouche "伍位尊翁" meaning "Five Honourable Old Men". Polylobed tam-son pierced at the top. Weight: 19 g Dimension: 37 x 54 x 71 mm Slightly damaged on one side. Provenance: Estate of General Gilbert Forray, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Brought back from his stay in Indochina where he was commander of a North Vietnamese Commando. The cult of the Four Palaces is a cult of the spirits, on the fringes of Buddhism, paying homage to the spirits of the Four Palaces, presided over by the supreme mother-goddess DauMau (kingdoms of the sky, mountains, water and earth). Attached to this are the "Five Honourable Old Men", NGŨ VỊ TỒNG ÔNG, Lords or heroes, inferior deities of the religion of the Four Palaces, subordinate to the goddesses. A curious survival of local mediumistic practices, including possession rituals. The Temple of the Five Mandarins in Hanoi associates them with the figure of Ho-Chi-Min.