Auctioned at 1.11 million U.S. dollars, "Young Lady Tying Her Scarf" far surpassed Mai Trung Thu's "Mona Lisa" at Christie's Hong Kong's latest auction.

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Series of four paintings on the auction site of Christie's Hong Kong. Photo: Vietnamplus

Christie's Hong Kong's evening auction on May 24 brought 75 consignments, including four silk paintings by great Vietnamese artists, including "Dyers at Work" by Nguyen Phan Chanh, "Young Lady Tying Her Scarf" and "The Blue Bowl" by Le Pho, "Mona Lisa" by Mai Trung Thu.

After hammering, Le Pho's "Young Lady Tying Her Scarf " was pegged at more than 1.11 million USD (equivalent to 8.65 million HKD). This is a price that is quite close to the previous prediction, ranging from nearly 876,000 USD to 1.13 million USD (6.8 million HKD to 8.8 million HKD).

“Mona Lisa” by Mai Trung Thu is pegged at 724,000 USD (equivalent to 5.625 million HKD), far exceeding the prediction from nearly 322,000 USD to nearly 451,000 USD (2.5 million HKD to 3.5 million HKD).

“Mona Lisa” by Mai Trung Thu (left) and “Young Lady Tying Her Scarf” by Le Pho. Photo: Vietnamplus

In April, Mai Trung Thu’s oil painting on canvas entitled “Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong” was sold at an auction of Sotheby's Hong Kong for a record price of 3.1 million USD, the highest price paid for Vietnamese art.

The remaining two Vietnamese paintings, "The Blue Bowl" by Le Pho and "Dyers at Work" by Nguyen Phan Chanh, were respectively sold to bidders for about 354,000 USD (2.7 million HKD) and 563,000 USD (4.375 million HKD).

Before the auction, the painting "Mona Lisa" attracted the attention of the art-loving community in Vietnam because it is a derivative work, inspired by the painting "Mona Lisa" by the great Italian painter Leonardo Da Vinci.

Along with "Young Lady Tying Her Scarf," "Mona Lisa" was predicted by art researcher Ly Doi to make the auction more dramatic than the other two paintings by Le Pho and Nguyen Phan Chanh.

After a record of 3.1 million USD, critics evaluated and predicted that Mai Trung Thu's paintings would continue to inflate prices. Among collectors, the higher the purchase price, the higher the subsequent sale price.

The remaining two paintings by Le Pho and Nguyen Phan Chanh:

“The Blue Bowl” by Le Pho on silk. Photo: Vietnamplus

"Dyers at Work" by Nguyen Van Chanh on silk. Photo: Vietnamplus

Rosie Nguyen