Prestige Auction in Orléans, Featuring the Rediscovery of a Major Work by LÊ PHỔ

Prestige Sale featuring:

Lots 1 through 9: Prints and multiples

Lots 10 through 33: Antique and modern drawings

Lots 34 through 70: Old and modern paintings

Lots 71 through 86: The World of Hunting

Lots 87 through 96: Asian Art, including a work by LÊ PHỔ (Lot 95)

Lots 97–116: 20th-Century Selection

Lots 117–122: Music

Lots 123–169: Display Pieces and Antique Furniture

Lots 170–179: Selection of Tableware

Lots 180–307: Antique and Modern Silverware

Appraisers: Cabinet Turquin, Cabinet Portier, François Jullien

Viewing:

Friday, November 13, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

On the morning of the auction, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Rediscovery of a major work by the Vietnamese artist LÊ PHỔ (1907–2001), estimated at €200,000–300,000. For more information on this work, please contact Auctioneer Guillaume CORNET

LÊ PHỔ (1907–2001)

Maternity

Ink and colors on silk.

Circa 1938–1942

Signed in the upper left corner with his double signature in Chinese characters and French, with a red seal.

56.5 x 43.5 cm (viewing dimensions).

Framed by Vasse (Lille), No. 99

Provenance: private collection, then passed down through the family.

The son of the Viceroy of Tonkin, Lê Phổ was born in 1907 in Hadong, in northern Vietnam. From a young age, he showed a keen interest in the arts and enrolled in the Indochina School of Fine Arts in 1925. During his formative years in Hanoi, he met his two principal mentors, the French artists Victor Tardieu and Joseph Inguimberty, who played a major role in the development

his artistic style. He settled permanently in Paris in 1937.

This work depicts the Virgin and Child seated on a Chinese-style armchair, with a vertical hanging in the background featuring bluish floral motifs, dating from the period 1938–1942. It was painted either in Paris until 1939 or in Nice, where the artist resided beginning in 1940.

He drew inspiration from the Italian Primitives, whom he discovered during a trip to Europe in 1931. He transposed the lessons of the Italian Renaissance onto silk and adopted the principle of pyramidal composition, a technique particularly favored by Raphael in his Madonnas and Childs.

We thank Mr. Alain Le Kim, son and heir of Lê Phổ, for confirming the authenticity of this work. This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Mr. Alain Le Kim.