According to Ace Le, senior advisor at Sotheby’s, the six-panel lacquer screen sold for EUR1.7 million during the auction house’s Asian Art sale in Paris on June 11. Including taxes and fees, the final transaction value reached approximately US$2 million.

The result set a new auction record for Pham Hau, surpassing his previous highs, including Hoàng hôn vàng trên vịnh Hạ Long (Golden Sunset over Ha Long Bay), which fetched US$1.25 million at Bonhams in 2021, Phong cảnh Chùa Thầy (View of a Famous Old Pagoda’s Landscape in North Vietnam) at US$1.03 million at Sotheby’s in 2021, and Phong cảnh thuyền buồm (Junk Landscape) at US$1 million at Aguttes in 2021.

Created in the 1930s-1940s at the artist’s workshop in Dong Ngac, the 150cm x 210cm lacquer screen depicts a herd of deer in a tropical forest, a recurring motif in Pham Hau’s work symbolising longevity, peace and prosperity in Eastern culture.

Pham Hau (1903-1995) was a leading figure in 20th-century Vietnamese art and a pioneer of modern lacquer painting. A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, he also helped establish the National School of Arts and Crafts in 1946.

The sale placed Deer in the Forest seventh among the highest-priced Indochinese artworks ever sold at international auctions and made it the first Vietnamese artwork to reach the million-dollar threshold in 2026. The result also reflected the growing global appeal of Indochinese lacquer art.

Vietnamese painting sold for high price at Sotheby’s art auction

VOV.VN - The masterpiece “Người hát dân ca” (Les Chanteuses de Campagne) created by renowned Vietnamese painter Nguyen Phan Chanh fetched US$1.09 million in Paris, France, when it recently went on sale as part of Arts d'Asie: Sotheby's Auction.