VietNamNet Bridge – A painting that was initially valued at just 50 pounds ($75) sold for HK$3.03 million ($390,000) in a weekend auction by Christie’s International in Hong Kong, setting a record for a work by a Vietnamese artist.

When the British seller of the 1932 work by Nguyen Phan Chanh entitled “La Marchand de Riz” (The Rice Seller) took it to Christie’s in London, it was mistakenly identified by a trainee as an unsigned Chinese work.

After it was forwarded to specialists in Asia, they recognized the painting by the artist’s signature on the back of the canvas and valued it at between HK$800,000 and HK$1 million.

“The provenance is impeccable,” Jean-Francois Hubert, Christie’s senior consultant for Vietnamese art, said in the saleroom. “It’s in its original frame by Parisian framer Gardin and it was exhibited in 1934 in Napoli.”

The buyer of the work, Kong-based dealer Pascal de Sarthe, said he and his wife Sylvie plan to hang it in their bedroom.

“It’s a very rare piece and the condition is amazing,” de Sarthe said on Sunday at his gallery’s booth in Art Basel Hong Kong. “You never overpay for a really good piece.”

The previous highest price for a Vietnamese artist at auction was set in April 2012 when Le Pho’s work sold for $HK2.9 million at Sotheby’s (BID) in Hong Kong.

Source: Bloomberg