Christie’s to auction another Le Pho masterpiece

Titled "Jeune femme attachant son foulard" in French, the painting is listed for auction on May 24 as part of Christie's "20th and 21st Century Art Evening Sale."

The masterpiece, created in 1938, is a 59.5 x 48.5 cm ink and gouache work on silk with Pho's signature in the upper right corner. Its value is estimated at HKD6.8-8.8 million ($875,000- over $1.13 million).

"Young Lady Tying Her Scarf" by Le Pho. Photo courtesy of Christie's Hong Kong auction house.

The auction house notes on its website that the painting’s subject has been a driving force in Le Pho's life and calls it a "gift of an endless source of inspiration" in his oeuvre.

"The fine features of the lady’s diaphanous face, her headdress, her black ao dai (a rare color for such a garment), the white veil, the abundant vegetation, all set in a mountainous landscape of Tonkin, are expressed here with real originality."

Last year, Le Pho’s 'Sau Khi Tam' (After The Bath) was sold for €440,000 ($532,860) by French auction house Tajan and silk painting 'Young Girl With Peonies' went for €1.16 million ($1.36 million) at French auction house Aguttes.

Pho (1907-2001) was a prominent painter who carved out a long and successful career in France, creating thousands of paintings.

His painting became the first by a Vietnamese artist to breach the million-dollar mark in April 2017 when Sotheby's Hong Kong auction house sold "Family Life" for $1.1 million.