Matching Bronze Heads of North and South Vietnamese Women by Nguyen Thanh Le

Description

Matching Bronze Heads of North and South Vietnamese Women by Nguyen Thanh Le
Of these two black bronze heads by Vietnamese artist Nguyen Thanh Le, versions of one has been sold variously as “Laotian Woman” or “Vietnamese Lady”. The other has a different hairdo, but same artist, and almost impossible to find. The two were bought before the Vietnam War in Saigon in 1958, and the heads were then purported to represent the North and South Vietnamese hairstyles (the “Laotian Woman” one being more lush, the South, the other more severe and with a communist-style head wrap, the North). They are basically in good overall shape, but could use a little touch-up where the black coating on top has worn a bit over the years (possibly from unskilled cleaning attempts) and certainly should have a professional cleaning to remove light mold spots while avoiding further abrading the paint. About 11+” in height including pedestals (heads are 7 ½” tall, pedestals 3 ½”). Artist signature stamped on back.
Although it is still possible to find the “Laotian Woman” head, its North Vietnamese-style match is very rare (probably the War got in the way of production) and the pair together even rarer.