Opened by the French government in colonial Hanoi in 1924, the curriculum taught the fundamentals of a classical academic painting, all of them new to Vietnamese students, plus traditional local techniques such as silk painting and lacquerwork.
This ink and colours on silk, offered by Adam’s in Dublin on November 23, is titled Before the Wedding and shows a mother staring with melancholy at her daughter as she combs her hair.
The inscription, dated Hanoi 1932 includes a verse from a text by the Northern Song poet Su Shi that begins: Spring water overflows the fields and watercourses. The artist is Phung Van Cun, probably a student of the Indochina Fine Arts College under Joseph Inguimberty (1896-1971).
Estimate €20,000-40,000.
Cat candlelight
Chinese export porcelain night light and stand - estimate €2000-4000 at Adam's on November 23.
Adam’s is a participant in Asian Art in London this year. The Dublin firm’s November 23 sale includes this Chinese export porcelain night light and stand.
The light brought by a candle would have emerged through the eyes, the ears and the back of the feline as well as through the holes in the stand.
Cat nightlights were made as early as the late Ming period and a number are known from the Kangxi period. This example, dated to the 18th or 19th century is estimated at €2000-4000.
