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Nguyen Thanh Le was a prolific Vietnamese artisan with a shop on Thu Do Street in the former Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. Many of his bronzes found their way to the USA via military personnel who served there during the war years. There also are copies of his works on the market.

I'm trying to authenticate this 12-plus inch-tall bronze head, which appears to be identical to one he created of of a Lao woman. A copy of it sold at Christie's in Singapore for the equivalent of slightly more than USD1200 on 30 September 2001. No reference I can find shows the mark on the one I'm handling, which is on the back of the neck and consists of two seal script characters that possibly read down in Mandarin Chinese as 'Za Bai' ށ�� - 'Around the Cedars'?).

While I could be wrong about the characters, I show the mark along with images of the bronze head below in hopes someone might be able to tell me what the pronunciation would be in Vietnamese. I've seen another casting identical to this one online with 'V.N.' for Vietnam as a mark and yet another with the Chinese for Vietnam (Yue Nan), which derives from the old term for Annam. I'm wondering if the mark on the bronze shown here might use the characters for 'Thanh Le'.

Thanks and best regards,

Bill H.

Hi Bill,

I happen to know a bit about this mark. If you still want to know more about it please reply my post.

Best.

I'm always anxious to learn something new, and accept your offer of information with thanks.
Best regards,
Bill H.

Hi Vi,

Are you familiar with the “nut & bolt” mounting on the base of the sculpture that was used to hold the piece in place; and was it common practice in Vietnam at that time?

There has been some discussion and doubts that a foundry would mount an original piece so crudely. Is it a way to discern if the piece is fake or not?

Thank you,
TdC

Hello,

Can anyone tell me about the “nut & bolt” on the base of the sculpture that was used to hold the piece in place, and was it common practice in Vietnam at that time?

There has been some discussion and doubts that a foundry would mount an original piece so crudely.

All comments and opinions are welcome.

Thank you,
TdC

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