A foreign visitor looks at a lacquer painting by Le Xuan Chieu at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum

Vietnam’s first fine arts authentication center will open later this year, aiming to protect both authors and buyers, Vi Kien Thanh, director of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, told Thanh Nien.

“Genuine works will receive the center’s certificate. This will be a place for painting auctions, so bidders can feel safe about the works’ origins,” Thanh said.

He said the museum would soon buy equipment for the center, but admitted they would be of limited utility.

“Equipments can help us know the age of a canvas, or how many color layers the paintings have. But they can’t help us learn about the work’s content and style,” said Thanh. “To inspect a painting’s style and ascertain whether the work belongs to this or that painter, we need the experience, research and knowledge of professionals.”

“We can’t demand that art experts will never make any mistake, as inspecting a work is not like solving a mathematical problem,” he said.

In case the center’s verification process turns out to be wrong and causes losses, the director of Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, not professionals, will compensate, Thanh said.

“Authentication professionals will be affected only in terms of their reputation and credibility,” he said.

Reported by Y Nguyen