Tribute to Vietnamese modern art 1925–2025

• Lot 3 Mai Trung Thứ (1906-1980),Le concert, Le concert, 1978, €1,793,280

  Second highest price ever achieved for the artist and world record for a silk painting by Mai Trung Thứ in 2025

• Lot 5 Lê Phổ (1907-2001), La femme nue, circa 1942, €1,372,200

• Lot 4 Lê Phổ (1907-2001), Paysage du Tonkin, Hanoi, circa 1930-1935, €1,231,840 - world record for a lacquer by Lê Phổ

• Lot 7 Mai Trung Thứ (1906-1980), Joie de vivre I, 1963, €792,860

• Lot 6 Lê Phổ (1907-2001),Jeune fille aux orchidées, circa 1942, €354,240

€1,793,280 was paid for Le concert (lot 3), a work by Mai Trung Thứ (1906-1980), setting the artist's second world record. This painting also sets the world record for a silk painting by Mai Trung Thứ. A music lover and musician himself, the artist illustrated the theme of music throughout his career. In 1978, he produced this final interpretation of the subject, to which the market paid a fine tribute this week with this million-pound result.

Autre œuvre sur soie, Joie de vivre (lot 7) a emporté, quant à elle, 792 860 €. Provenant d’un triptyque créé en 1963 et par la suite désolidarisée, elle représente un thème récurrent dans l’œuvre de Mai Trung Thứ, celui de l’enfance. Les peintures latérales étaient apparues sur le second marché successivement en 2014 et en 2020 à Paris. Demeurée encore manquante, cette pièce centrale, conservée depuis plus de 50 ans dans une collection privée, est enfin sortie de l’ombre et a retenu toute l’attention des amateurs.

Une autre œuvre de Mai Trung Thứ, La coiffure, 1953 (lot 12) a marqué 62 976 €. Les trois œuvres de cet artiste ont ainsi totalisé, le 9 septembre 2025, plus de 2,6 millions d’euros.

Another work on silk, Joie de vivre (lot 7), sold for €792,860. Part of a triptych created in 1963 and subsequently separated, it depicts a recurring theme in Mai Trung Thứ's work: childhood. The side paintings appeared on the secondary market in Paris in 2014 and 2020 respectively. Still missing, this central piece, kept for over 50 years in a private collection, finally emerged from obscurity and caught the attention of art lovers.

Another work by Mai Trung Thứ, La coiffure, 1953 (lot 12), sold for €62,976. The three works by this artist thus totalled more than €2.6 million on 9 September 2025.

The number of lacquer works by Lê Phổ currently listed remains less than 10.

Landscape of Tonkin, Hanoi, (lot 4) circa 1930-1935, attracted the interest of collectors who bid up to €1,231,840. This screen now holds the world record for a lacquer work by Lê Phổ.

Freshly graduated from the Indochina School of Fine Arts, Lê Phổ created this piece in the early 1930s, which consists of five lacquer panels embellished with gold and silver. Acquired directly from the artist by Auguste Tholance, a major supporter of the artist, this work offers a rare glimpse into Lê Phổ's lacquer production, to which the artist devoted himself during a short but intense period between 1930 and 1937.

It also illustrates the encounter between Art Deco lines and the traditional technique and aesthetics of Vietnamese lacquer art.

Other notable sales for Lê Phổ included Young Girl with Orchids (lot 6), which fetched €354,240. Young Woman with Lotus Flowers (lot 13), Woman in a Field of Daisies (lot 15), Young Boy (lot 8 B) and Rest (lot 9) fetched €65,600, €82,020, €209,920 and €60,352 respectively. Seven works by Lê Phổ thus achieved a total of over €3.3 million.