LONDON — In the 1970s, the British comedian¹ Tommy Cooper used to tell a joke about asking an auction² house to value a violin and a painting that he had discovered in an attic³. The good news, he was told, is that they were made by Stradivarius and Rembrandt. The bad news was that the painting was by Stradivarius and the violin was by Rembrandt.

伦敦——在20世纪70年代，英国喜剧演员汤米·库珀(Tommy Cooper)讲过这样一个笑话：他在阁楼里发现一把小提琴和一幅画，让拍卖公司估价。拍卖公司说，好消息是它们分别出自斯特拉迪瓦里(Stradivarius)和伦勃朗(Rembrandt)之手。坏消息是那幅画是斯特拉迪瓦里画的，小提琴是伦勃朗做的。

He then proceeded to ram⁴ the violin through the canvas.

然后，他用那把小提琴砸穿了那幅画。

In those days, of course, Rembrandt was the gold standard. But the Dutchman and his fellow old masters have fallen out of fashion and are no longer as coveted⁵ by collectors and investors⁶.

当然，那时候，伦勃朗是大热门。但是如今，这位荷兰画家和他的同辈大师已经过气，不再是收藏家和投资者渴望的对象。

As a measure of that fall, 10 works have sold at auction for more than $100 million since 2004, and all of them were made by modern or contemporary artists in the past 120 years. Older paintings have seen their value, in relative terms, level off or decline. The trend was plain to see in recent weeks, as London’s auction houses tried to find buyers for their latest tranche of old masters. As has been the case in recent years, there were few works by major names.

从2004年起，过去120年里的现代或当代艺术家们创作的10件作品在拍卖会上共卖出1亿多美元。而更早期绘画大师的作品价格则是稳中有跌。最近几周，这一趋势非常明显，伦敦的拍卖公司努力为自己的最新一批18世纪前绘画大师作品寻找买家。与近些年的情况一样，其中几乎没有名作。

Christie’s biannual⁷ evening sale on Dec. 8 raised just 6.5 million pounds with fees, about $9.7 million, against a low estimate of 12.7 million. Nineteen of the 45 works, or 42 percent, failed to sell, including the two most highly valued lots — a 1582 watercolor study of a hare among plants by Hans Hoffmann, a pupil of Albrecht Dürer, and a fine 1770s Francesco Guardi view of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, carrying low estimates of 4 million and 1.5 million respectively.

12月8日，佳士得(Christie’s)的双年夜间拍卖会仅拍得650万英镑（含佣金），约合970万美元，而最低预估价为1270万英镑。45件作品中有19件流拍，比例达42%，包括两幅估价最高的作品——阿尔布雷特·丢勒(Albrecht Dürer)的学生汉斯·霍夫曼(Hans Hoffmann)1582年创作的水彩习作——丛林中的野兔，还有弗朗西斯科·瓜尔迪(Francesco Guardi)在18世纪70年代创作的描绘威尼斯圣乔治马焦雷岛美景的油画，这两幅画的最低估价分别是400万英镑和150万英镑。

Anyone can have a bad day at the office, but this disappointing performance at Christie’s followed an old masters sale in July that took in 19 million against a low estimate of 31.5 million.

谁都有不如意的时候，但是佳士得拍卖会上令人失望的情景已经不是第一次出现。今年7月的18世纪前绘画大师作品拍卖会仅拍得1900万英镑，而当时的最低预估价是3150万英镑。

Little wonder, then, that Christie’s, the dominant⁸ player in the auction market for modern and contemporary art, is re-marketing its old master paintings as “classic art.” It will be offering old masters and other historical pieces next year at its Rockefeller Center sales in April, rather than January. The week will feature a themed sale that includes 20th-century works. And its “classic art” format⁹ will debut¹⁰ in London in July, Christie’s said on Friday.

难怪现代和当代艺术品拍卖市场的主要玩家佳士得拍卖行把自己的早期绘画大师作品重新宣传为“古典艺术品”。它将于明年4月（原先的计划是明年1月）在洛克菲勒中心(Rockefeller Center)举办早期绘画大师作品及其他历史作品拍卖会，其中包括20世纪作品专题拍卖会。周五（12月18日），佳士得称，它的“古典艺术品”拍卖计划将于明年7月在伦敦公布。

At its own auction the following evening, Sotheby’s achieved a far more respectable total of 22.6 million with fees, although it was just above the low estimate of 21.8 million based on hammer prices. Of the 44 lots offered, 15 did not sell, or 34 percent.

第二晚（12月9日）的苏富比(Sotheby’s)拍卖会共拍得2260万英镑（含佣金），比佳士得前晚的表现要好得多，不过也只是略高于2180万英镑（不含佣金）的最低估价。44件拍品中有15件流拍，比例达34%。

A lone¹¹ European telephone bidder¹² paid a top price of 9.1 million for a smaller 1825 version of John Constable’s admired but difficult-to-love 1824 vertical¹³ landscape, “The Lock,” that had been in the same British family since 1855.

当晚的最高价来自唯一的一位欧洲电话出价人。此人以910万英镑购得约翰·康斯特布尔(John Constable)令人钦佩但很难让人喜爱的1824年纵向风景画《水闸》(The Lock)的1825年缩小版，这幅画从1855年起一直由一个英国家族私藏。

As a point of comparison, the combined 29.1 million total from those old master sales was 34 percent less than the 44.2 million Christie’s and Sotheby’s took in at equivalent events five years ago, in December 2011.

我们进行一个比较，佳士得和苏富比的这两次18世纪前绘画大师作品拍卖会共拍得2910万英镑，比五年前（2011年12月）类似拍卖会拍得的4420万英镑少了34%。

“The auction market is extremely selective,” said Henry Pettifer, the head of old master paintings at Christie’s, whose sale total had been dented¹⁴ by a 15th-century Flemish Madonna and child by Hans Memling that the auction house had sold privately¹⁵ for more than 3.5 million and had withdrawn¹⁶ from the sale. “The availability of fresh material is limited,” he added, alluding¹⁷ to how few museum-quality works are in private hands.

佳士得把汉斯·梅姆灵(Hans Memling)于15世纪创作的佛兰芒风格圣母与圣子油画从拍卖会上撤掉，以350多万英镑私下出售，所以影响了这次的拍卖总额。该拍卖行的18世纪前绘画大师作品主管亨利·佩蒂弗(Henry Pettifer)说：“拍卖市场非常挑剔。新鲜作品的数量很少。”他指的是私人极少收藏有博物馆级别的作品。

And, thanks to Artnet and other databases that list auction results, wealthy people who buy art have become all too aware of how hard it is to make a profit on old masters.

借助于Artnet等公布拍卖结果的数据库，如今购买艺术品的富豪非常清楚要想在早期绘画大师的作品上获利非常困难。

In one example, Christie’s was offering the mid-18th-century canvas “Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well” by the Venetian artist Francesco Fontebasso at a low estimate of 120,000. The pleasant piece of rococo¹⁸ decoration had been bought at auction in 1990 for $286,000, according to Artnet. At the Dec. 8 sale it fell to a single telephone bid of 115,000, about $170,000, before fees. Investors do not expect to incur¹⁹ a loss of about 40 percent a quarter century after buying a Warhol or a Basquiat. Reselling an old master can be even harder when that painting has been languishing²⁰ in a dealer²¹’s gallery.

例如，佳士得给威尼斯艺术家弗朗西斯科·丰泰巴索(Francesco Fontebasso)在18世纪中叶创作的油画《井边的丽贝卡和埃利泽》(Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well)的最低估价为12万英镑。根据Artnet的数据，在1990年的拍卖会上，这幅令人愉快的洛可可装饰风格的油画是以28.6万英镑购得的。在12月8日的拍卖会上，它仅得到一个电话出价——11.5万英镑（不含佣金），约合17万美元。而投资者们可不认为在购买沃霍尔(Warhol)或巴斯奎特(Basquiat)的作品25年之后会损失约40%。如果一幅早期绘画大师的作品被搁置在交易商的画廊里，想转卖它就更加困难。

On Nov. 24 and 25, Sotheby’s auctioned²² the collection of the fourth-generation Munich dealer Konrad Bernheimer, who owns the historic London gallery Colnaghi. Mr. Bernheimer, 65, has decided²³ to scale down his operations. He is closing his Munich gallery, selling his grand Bavarian home, Marquartstein Castle, and is merging²⁴ Colnaghi with a fellow London dealer, Coll & Cortes.

11月24日至25日，苏富比举办慕尼黑第四代交易商康拉德·伯恩海默(Konrad Bernheimer)的藏品拍卖会，他拥有历史悠久的伦敦科尔纳吉画廊(Colnaghi)。65岁的伯恩海默决定缩小自己的业务，关闭慕尼黑的画廊，卖掉巴伐利亚的豪华宅邸马尔库斯泰恩城堡(Marquartstein Castle)，将科尔纳吉画廊与伦敦的Coll & Cortes画廊合并。

Despite Sotheby’s branding the two-part auction as “The Bernheimer Collection,” his stock proved a hard sell. Only 22 out of the 42 lots at the Nov. 24 evening sale found buyers, with a top price of 197,000 with fees for the 1732 Nicolas Lancret painting, “Le Menuet” — a frothy “fête champêtre” scene with childlike dancers — that had been purchased for $744,000 at auction in 2005.

尽管苏富比把这个分为两场的拍卖会宣称为“伯恩海默藏品拍卖会”，但是结果证明，他的藏品并不好卖。在11月24日的夜间拍卖会上，42件拍品中只有22件找到了买家，价格最高的是尼古拉斯·朗克雷(Nicolas Lancret)1732年的油画《小步舞》(Le Menuet)，它描绘的是一场浮华的游园会，里面有天真烂漫的舞者，售价为19.7万英镑（含佣金）。2005年，这幅画是以74.4万美元的价格在拍卖会上购得的。

Two weeks later, Mr. Bernheimer was among the dozens of long-established old master dealers²⁵ attending the London evening sales. In the past, they would buy at these auctions²⁶ to stock up for the Maastricht European Fine Art Fair in March in the Netherlands. But with sellers encouraging Sotheby’s and Christie’s to compete for their business with ever-higher valuations, and auctions now marketed to a shallow pool of wealthy buyers, there was conspicuously²⁷ little trade bidding.

两周后，伯恩海默等几十位著名的早期绘画大师作品交易商出席伦敦的夜间拍卖会。过去，他们通常会在这些拍卖会上购买一些作品，以备在第二年3月的荷兰马斯特里赫特欧洲美术博览会(Maastricht European Fine Art Fair)上展示。但是由于卖家们鼓励苏富比和佳士得报出更高的估价来争夺自己的拍品，所以拍卖行只针对少数富豪进行宣传，现场竞价十分冷清。

“It’s na瘀攀 not to recognize we’re at a pretty serious moment,” said Anthony Crichton-Stuart, director of the London dealer Agnew’s. “There has been a massive taste shift. But when a good old master does come up at auction and it is priced correctly, you do get some excitement.”

伦敦阿格纽艺术品交易所(Agnew’s)的主管安东尼·克赖顿-斯图尔特(Anthony Crichton-Stuart)说：“如果没有意识到我们处在非常危急的关头，那就太天真了。人们的偏好出现了重大转变。但是如果拍卖会上出现一幅18世纪前绘画大师的佳作，而且价位合理，人们还是会感到兴奋。”

One of the few lots to sell significantly above its estimate, at Sotheby’s, was a 1780 landscape by Joseph Wright of Derby showing a cavern²⁸ in the Gulf²⁹ of Salerno with the figure of Julia, the banished³⁰ daughter of Emperor Augustus.

在苏富比的拍卖会上，有少数几幅作品的拍卖价格远高于预估价，比如德比的约瑟夫·赖特(Joseph Wright of Derby)1780年的一幅风景画，它描绘的是奥古斯都大帝的女儿朱莉叶(Julia)被流放到萨莱诺湾(Gulf of Salerno)的一个洞穴里。

Wright is one of the most original figures of British Romantic painting, and this composition, held in the same private collection in Derbyshire since 1840, had an approachable low estimate of 100,000 because of condition issues and — not insignificantly³¹ — the fact that it was a charity donation to benefit Syrian refugees. As a result, at least three bidders³² pushed the price to 665,000 with fees.

赖特是英国浪漫主义画派的鼻祖之一。这幅作品从1840年起一直由德比郡的一个家族私藏。考虑到目前的行情，它的最低估价仅为10万英镑，还有一个重要因素是它的拍卖款将用于救济叙利亚难民。结果，至少有三位竞拍人把价格推高至66.5万英镑（含佣金）。

“The new money is interested in old masters, but it wants what Duveen sold to the robber barons³³. It wants names,” said Hugo Nathan, a co-founder of the London advisers³⁴ Beaumont Nathan. He was referring to Joseph Duveen, the British art dealer who was responsible for bringing many great works of art to the United States.

伦敦博蒙特·内森顾问公司(Beaumont Nathan)的联合创始人雨果·内森(Hugo Nathan)说：“新投资者对早期绘画大师的作品有兴趣，不过他们想要的是杜维恩(Duveen)卖给强盗大亨们的作品。他们想要名作。”他指的是英国艺术交易商约瑟夫·杜维恩(Joseph Duveen)，他把很多伟大的艺术品带去了美国。

Mr. Nathan was among the few dealers actively³⁵ bidding at the evening sales. Buying on behalf of a client, he paid 506,500, or twice the estimate, at Christie’s for Charles-Antoine Coypel’s 1737 painting, “The Destruction of the Palace of Armida.”

内森是少数几位在夜间拍卖会上积极出价的交易商之一。他在佳士得的拍卖会上代表一位客户以50.65万英镑拍下了查尔斯-安东尼·夸佩尔(Charles-Antoine Coypel)1737年的画作《阿米达宫的毁灭》(The Destruction of the Palace of Armida)，售价是预估价的两倍。

“Today you have to shop by image,” Mr. Nathan said. “But if you are brave and don’t follow fashion, there are opportunities.”

内森说：“如今，你必须根据行情购买。不过，如果你很大胆，不跟随潮流，那么你也有很多机会。”

People are still looking at old masters for pleasure, if not as lucrative³⁶ investments. Sotheby’s said 6,000 people visited its Dec. 5 to 9 viewing, compared with the 6,400 who saw its Impressionist and contemporary sales in June. At the lower end of the price scale, many historic paintings do find a market — Christie’s and Sotheby’s day sales of old master paintings on Dec. 9 and 10 had solid-enough selling rates of 67 and 65 percent apiece.

如果不是看作有利可图的投资的话，人们依然喜欢欣赏早期绘画大师的作品，从中获得愉悦。苏富比称，6000人参观了12月5日至9日的早期绘画大师作品拍卖会预展，而6月份的印象派和当代艺术品拍卖会的参观人数为6400人。很多历史悠久的画作的确在低端价位上找到了市场，在12月9日至10日的早期绘画大师作品日间拍卖会上，佳士得和苏富比的售出比例都很高，分别是67%和65%。

But there remains³⁷ a mass of old master paintings in dealers’ stocks — and in collectors’ minds — whose asking prices still hark back to the age of Tommy Cooper. Unfortunately, in today’s market, and at those prices, many of these paintings will be as sellable as that Stradivarius canvas with the hole in it.

不过，在交易商的仓库里和收藏家的脑海里还有大量早期绘画大师的作品，它们的要价仍停留在汤米·库珀那个年代。不幸的是，在如今的市场上，以那样的价格，很多画作都将像被小提琴砸了个大洞的斯特拉迪瓦里画作一样卖不出去。