Traces of settlement in Vietnam have been discovered dating back to Paleolithic times, but it was 4,000 years ago that an indigenous civilization, the Red River Civilization, developed along the Hong (Red) River in North-Vietnam. Previously, historians had theorized that early Vietnamese culture owed its development to the influence of India, or was a branch of the Yellow River civilization of China, which is why the region was called IndoChina. The Red River Civilization consisted of four periods: Phung Nguyen, a late Neolithic culture, the Dong Dau, which arose in the second millennium BC, and Go Mun, which evolved directly into the Dong Son in the 8th century BC, when the Bronze Age and the Iron Age overlapped.

The Dong Son culture in the basins of the Red, Ma and Ca Rivers represented the peak of ancient Vietnamese civilization. It was ruled by a royal dynasty, and had an administrative class. The culture is symbolized by the bronze Dong Son drums. These were richly decorated with images drawn from the rituals and daily activities of the agricultural community. At the center of each drum was a star.

Written accounts of Dong Son drums date back to China? Han and Tang dynasties, providing details of the drums, their owners and distribution, as well as their use and value.
The drums were objects of worship, and the god of the drum was summoned to protect feudal dynasties, or to help against foreign invasions.

Specimens have been discovered in South and Southwest China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, and as far south as Indonesia, and even as far east as Irian Jaya. The largest number, however, come from northern Vietnam. The Dong Son culture was brought to an end by the Han conquest in 111 BC. The Chinese domination lasted over 1,000 years, during which Vietnam was administered as an imperial province. The Chinese adopted a policy of cultural assimilation, with Chinese as the only written language. During the Tang Dynasty, Vietnam was called Annam (Pacified South), a term that was resented by the general population. Annam was a small coastal strip in northern Vietnam and southern China. To the south, Champa controlled a coastal strip in central Vietnam.

Chinese domination brought technology such as the metal plow, terracing and rice cultivation. It is said that the earliest pottery produced in Vietnam came about in the second century BC, when a Chinese potter Hoang Quang-Hung introduced the potte-wheel and settled in Dau Khe village, which remained an important pottery center for several centuries.

From the 1st century AD, Vietnam produced glazed ceramics, with some funerary wares showing thick green or cream glazes on pale clay bodies.

Vietnam remained under Chinese rule for a thousand years, until the middle of the 10th century, following the fall of the Tang Dynasty, when they rebelled successfully to regain their independence.

Wares from the 9th to 13th centuries show distinct Tang and Sung influences, and those from the 14th to the 17th centuries reveal Yuan and Ming characteristics. However, just as they managed to maintain their cultural identity throughout the Chinese domination, Vietnamese ceramics were not simply copies of Chinese ones. While Chinese potters aimed for technical excellence, the Vietnamese were more casual, and the thin glazes on some of their wares do tend to flake and erode, suggesting the glazes never fused perfectly with the bodies of the ceramics. Making up for this was their skilled potting, which imbued the clay of the Red River Valley with strong shapes. These combined with calligraphic painting and free-spirited glaze effects to create what have been called the most sophisticated ceramics in Southeast Asia.

Motifs began to be used from the mid-13th century, when potters used brushes to draw flower designs on their products. Celadons began being manufactured during the Ly Dynasty (1010-1225AD). Using iron to create underglaze designs on porcelain dates back to the late 13th century and may have been inspired by Yuan blue and white porcelain.

Brown glazed wares started appearing in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The practice of applying brown slips to the base of wares comes from the 14th and 15th centuries, when the ruling Tran dynasty ordered that imperial kiln wares be treated with the brown slip to distinguish them from the products made in ordinary kilns.
During this period, Vietnam also became heavily involved in ceramics export, sending wares to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Vietnamese blue and white wares formed the bulk of trade wares during the 15th and 16th centuries, and are still made in modern times.