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