An anonymous buyer has won the bidding for Emperor Ham Nghi (1871-1944) oil-on-canvas painting Declin du Jour ( Sunset) at an auction in Paris.
HA NOI –
The reserve price for the work, created in 1915 when Ham Nghi was exiled in Alger, Algeria, was euro 1,000 and it sold for euro 8,800.
The painting depicts the rural peaceful landscape.
The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre's representative at Viet Nam's Paris embassy had expected to buy 35cm-by-46cm landscape.
But the painting was sold to the highest bidder over the phone.
Ham Nghi was the Nguyen Dynasty's eighth Emperor.
He ruled for only one year (1884-85) and together Thanh Thai and Duy Tan, Ham Nghi fought the French colonists.
In 1885, he led the large-scale Can Vuong uprising and was replaced with Emperor Dong Khanh after it failed.
Exiled to Algeria in 1888, Ham Nghi died there in 1943 and is buried at Aquitaine, France. – VNS