Paris – An important painting by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) sold for €521,250 and a delicate nude by Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968) achieved €381,400 at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr's Impressionist and Modern Art sale on 4 December in Paris.

The 62-lot sale made €1,931,288, including a selection of paintings from the John and Joanna Meulkens collection assembled in the 1980s which sold for a total of €81,920.

Emilie Millon, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art department, said: "This sale offered highly desirable works from various collections, including a Chagall painting and a Foujita nude. With great names such as Rembrandt Bugatti, Pablo Picasso, Tobeen and Moïse Kisling also in the line-up, the sale attracted interest from Europe and beyond."

Executed in 1961 by Marc Chagall, Le sapin bleu exemplifies the evocative and nostalgic imagery that permeates the later works of the artist's remarkable career. Like many of the oneiric motifs of his prolific oeuvre, Marc Chagall's unrelenting fascination with spiritual and religious imagery draws from his childhood in the town of Vitebsk, which was enriched by the rituals, ceremonies, and legends of Jewish life. It sold for €521,250.

Nu allongé, 1929 by Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968) is a remarkable oil on canvas, which enabled the artist to employ his personal nyuhakushoku (milk whiteness) technique of delicately superimposing a luminescent white background (the secret of which he never revealed) to capture his model's white skin. The material, smooth and satiny, offers a rare transparency. It sold for €381,400.

A beautiful bronze showing two antelopes together by Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916), sold for €178,200. Petites Antilopes goudou ou koudou «caresse» was a bronze with black and brown patina, executed circa 1911, by the Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard foundry. Born in 1884, the Italian sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti chose to focus on sculpting animals. Using exotic models found in the zoos of Paris and Antwerp, his work featured animals introducing them into the history of European art as sculpted subjects for the first time.

Other highlights of the sale included:
• Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le peintre et son modèle, pen and ink on paper from a French collection sold for €127,400. Executed in 1970, this drawing evokes themes of intimacy and vulnerability. The woman, though stylised, appears both exposed and powerful, highlighting the contrast between the artist and her subject.
• Tobeen (1880-1938), Paysanne à la récolte/Basquaise portant des gerbes, oil on canvas painted circa 1915 sold for €61,300, more than 5 times its estimate.
• Moïse Kisling (1891-1953), Saint-Tropez, oil on canvas painted in 1918, sold for €57,550.
• Marie Laurencin (1883-1956), Sans titre (danseuse) oil on canvas, sold for €44,800.