Painting by Vietnamese artist sold for record price

Child with Bird, silk, 1931, by Nguyen Phan Chanh, has just been sold at over 853,000 USD.

This is the highest price for a painting by any Vietnamese artist sold by the auction house and in the world.

The painting depicts a girl feeding her bird. Em Be Ben Chu Chim (Child with Bird), ink and colour powder on silk, was drawn in 1931 and measures 65x50cm. Its original price was 128,000-205,000 USD.

According to Christie’s, before the auction in Hong Kong, the painting was owned by a collector, who purchased it directly from Chanh.

The art collector who bought the painting on May 27 resides in France.

On May 26, another painting by the same artist, Nguoi Ban Oc (The Snail Seller), was sold for 600,000 USD (4.66 million HKD) at Christie’s Hong Kong.

The Snail Seller, silk, 1929, by Nguyen Phan Chanh.

The painting, ink and colour powder on silk supported by paper and measuring 88x65.6cm, was made in 1929.

The Snail Seller was showcased at the Paris-Bois de Vincennes International Exhibition from May 6 to November 15, 1931, where Chanh displayed six of his works. Experts guessed that Chanh had displayed his artworks at the exhibition because in 1929, while studying at the Indochina Fine Arts College, he won the first prize at the Indochina Post Stamp Design contest.

In 1931, Chanh made two silk paintings, which were considered master pieces --- Choi O An Quan (Playing O An Quan Game) and Child with Bird. He tried his hand at silk painting with the encouragement of his college rector, Victor Tardieu (1870-1937).

The Snail Seller was collected in 1931 and was occasionally displayed at exhibitions here and there. Its most recent appearance was in 2002 at the Mariemont Royal Museum in Belgium. The exhibition, titled Peach and Blue Birds: Arts and Civilisation of Vietnam, was held from April 20 to August 18.

During his life, Chanh made some 170 paintings, most of which measure 65x50cm.

Although he painted about various topics, he was known for his paintings of ordinary people and popular images in the northern region of Vietnam.