教父級中國藝術藏家安思遠藏品在紐約拍賣

The piece was jade, a cylindrical Chinese cong from the sixth century B.C., and Lu Yizheng, a 33-year-old collector from Shanghai, was all over it. Nose to the stone, he followed the pinpoint beam of his small penlight, looking for imperfections, as four friends pressed against him for a closer view and loudly debated the merits. “This is the best of the jade I have seen,” Mr. Lu said. “The size and the quality are good; so is the provenance of the jade.”

33歲的上海收藏家陸一徵（音譯）俯身觀看一塊來自公元前六世紀中國的圓柱形玉琮，鼻子都快貼到石頭上了，他用小小的筆形電筒照着，試圖尋找瑕疵，四個朋友擠在他身邊仔細觀看，大聲品評。“這是我見過的最好的玉，”陸說。“尺寸和質量都很好，玉的來源也好。”

Chinese dealers, collectors and art lovers have been out in force at Christie’s, which is auctioning the art collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in five days of sales that begin on Tuesday, with a week of online sales to follow. Ellsworth, a revered connoisseur who died last year, amassed one of the finest private collections of Asian art in the West, and the presale estimates total $35 million. Jin Zhao, who collects Tang and Song dynasty porcelain in a small way, flew in from Tianjin, China, hoping to pick up one or two pieces. “It’s worth it,” he said. “This is a very great collection.”

從週二開始，佳士得拍賣行將開始拍賣安思遠(Robert Hatfield Ellsworth)的藏品，爲期五天，其後還將舉辦一週的在線銷售，中國的經銷商、收藏家和藝術愛好者們趨之若鶩。安思遠是一位備受尊崇的收藏家，於去年逝世，擁有西方世界最精美的私人東方藝術藏品，預售估價3500萬美元。小規模收藏唐宋瓷器的靳昭（音譯）從中國天津趕來，希望能買下一兩件物品。“物有所值，這是非常棒的收藏，”他說。

The Ellsworth sale puts a giant exclamation point on Asia Week, an annual event that makes New York the prime destination for dealers, museum curators, scholars and collectors from around the world, a varied group that included sharp-eyed young collectors in down jackets and jeans, middle-aged dealers hunting their quarry in small packs, tweedy connoisseurs and Chinese women dressed up to Ming vase standards.

安思遠的拍賣是“亞洲周”的重頭戲，這項一年一度的活動吸引着全世界的交易商、博物館策展人、學者與收藏家們趕到紐約，其中不乏目光敏銳、身穿羽絨服與牛仔褲的年輕收藏家，尋找小型物品的中年交易商，身穿粗花呢西裝的文物行家與打扮得像明代花瓶般漂亮的中國女性。

“It is the largest constellation of Asian art on the face of the earth,” said Jay Xu, director of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, who is leading a team of about two dozen curators, board members, collectors and donors to New York for a furious round of looking, meeting, greeting, publicizing and acquiring. “It is very rich.”

“這是地球上最大的亞洲藝術精英人羣了，”舊金山亞洲藝術博物館館長許傑(Jay Xu)說，他率領二十多名策展人、董事會成員、收藏家與捐贈者來到紐約，進行一系列熱鬧的參觀、會面、寒暄、公關和購買活動。“非常豐富。”

Mr. Xu was referring to the week’s events: the exhibits, often museum quality, at the more than 40 dealers who participate in Asia Week; the shows and lectures at institutions like Asia Society and the Japan Society; the two dozen auctions of Asian art at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams and Doyle; and benefit parties like the one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the centenary of its Asian art department.

許傑指的是本週的活動：40多名參加本次亞洲周的交易商舉辦了各種展覽，大都具備美術館品質；亞洲協會和日本協會等機構將帶來展出與講座；蘇富比、佳士得、邦瀚斯和道爾拍賣行將推出20多場亞洲藝術拍賣會；來自大都會藝術博物館爲慶祝該館亞洲藝術部門成立一百週年而舉行的慈善晚會等。

But Mr. Xu could just as well have been talking money. In a good year, Asia Week accounts for about $200 million in sales, as it did in 2014. In 2011, when Chinese buyers were spending not just freely but in many cases recklessly, the sales figure reached $250 million. This year’s Ellsworth auction could have a similar inflationary effect.

但許傑也可能是在說金錢。在2014年這樣的好年頭，亞洲週上的成交額可以達到兩億。在2011年，中國買家的表現不僅僅是慷慨，很多情況下簡直可以用“不顧一切”來形容，當年的銷售額達到了2.5億。今年，安思遠的拍賣上也可能會出現類似盛況。

Joan B. Mirviss, a week before Asia Week opened on Friday, said that she had already sold 75 percent of the 44 Japanese storage jars, ancient and modern, that she spent two years assembling for the exhibition “Tsubo: The Art of the Vessel.”

亞洲周於週五開幕，一個星期前，瓊·B·默維斯(Joan B. Mirviss)說，她在售的44個古代和現代日本儲物罐已經賣出了大約75%，它們原本是爲“壺：容器的藝術”展覽而收集的，花了她兩年的時間。

Suneet Kapoor, a partner in Kapoor Galleries, a dealer in Indian art, said that Asia Week accounted for more than 50 percent of his annual sales. Other dealers attribute anywhere between one-third and two-thirds of their annual business to the event, which runs for nine days.

卡普爾藝術館的合作者薩尼特·卡普爾(Suneet Kapoor)是印度藝術交易商，他說亞洲週上的銷量佔了他年度銷量的50%。其他交易商在亞洲週上賣出商品的比例約佔全年銷售額的1/3到2/3不等。這項活動持續九天。

Less than 10 years ago, the market for Asian art in New York looked quite different. The International Asian Art Fair, held for many years at the Park Avenue Armory, went bust at the end of 2008, a victim of the economic downturn.

不到十年前，紐約的亞洲藝術品市場還完全是另一番景象。國際亞洲藝術博覽會多年來一直在公園大道軍械庫舉行，最終於2008年底宣告破產，成了經濟低迷的犧牲品。

Ms. Mirviss and the Korean art dealer Jiyoung Koo hastily organized a confederation of 16 dealers, which they called Asian Art Dealers of the Upper East Side, to hold open houses that, collectively, would replace the art fair. At the same time, a half-dozen dealers making up the Japanese Art Dealers Association staged their own show, which has become an annual event.

默維斯和韓國藝術交易商Jiyoung Koo與16位交易商倉促成立了“上東區亞洲藝術交易商協會”，他們聯合舉辦公開活動，試圖取代藝術博覽會。與此同時，六七個交易商成立了日本藝術交易商協會，也推出了自己的展覽，後來發展爲一年一度的活動。

From these beginnings, Asia Week quickly developed into its current hybrid form. “We are not an art fair,” said Carol Conover, the director of Kaikodo Asian Art and the chairwoman of Asia Week. “We are something very different. The intimacy of a gallery is different than being on a floor in a big room.”

亞洲周就是在這些起源的基礎上發展起來的，很快有了目前這種混雜的形式。“我們不是藝術博覽會，”懷古堂亞洲藝術館(Kaikodo Asian Art)館長兼亞洲周主席卡羅爾·康諾瓦(Carol Conover)說，“我們非常不一樣。藝術館的親近感和在一個大房間裏佔一層的地方是很不一樣的。”

The lack of a central location turned out to have advantages. “Doing it this way enables me to have my library here, to have private meetings with clients,” Ms. Mirviss said. The concentration of galleries, especially along Madison Avenue in the 70s and 80s, makes it possible for buyers to cover a lot of ground quickly and to see art in intimate settings. The intangible reassurance of bricks and mortar, moreover, is no small thing in a market where trust counts for everything.

亞洲周沒有中心場館，這也成了有利條件。“這種做事方式讓我可以在這裏擁有自己的書房，和客戶私下裏會面，”默維斯說。各家藝術館的位置相對集中，特別是70年代到80年代，都集中在麥迪遜大街，因此買家可以很快走很多地方，以親密的方式觀看藝術品。此外，在這個“信任就是一切”的市場裏，實體店鋪那種難以言喻的安全感也非常重要。

“In a way, it became more dynamic when it left the armory,” Mr. Xu said. “You’re hopping around New York to see all the offerings.”

“在某種程度上，離開軍械庫後，這項活動變得更有活力了，”許傑說。“你可以在紐約到處跑，去參觀所有東西。”

Not everyone is enthralled with the hustle and bustle. “In a way, I love it and hate it,” said James Lally, who deals in Chinese art at his gallery, J. J. Lally. “Everybody shows up, but you can only spend 30 seconds with each person. It’s difficult to maintain a polite relationship with your clients.”

不是所有人都喜歡這種忙亂。“在某種程度上，我對此又愛又恨，”詹姆斯·拉里(James Lally)說，他的畫廊名叫J·J·拉里，也經營中國藝術。“所有人都會出席，但你只能花30秒鐘去接待一個人。要想和客戶保持彬彬有禮的關係很困難。”

Asia Week has prospered in a decade dominated by bad economic news, thanks almost entirely to wealthy Chinese dealers and collectors, whose free spending and deep pockets have led to the first Asia Week in Paris, scheduled for June, and a new branch of Art Basel in Hong Kong, which started on Sunday and will run for three days. “The dominant force is the Chinese buyer,” Mr. Lally said. “They buy 75 to 80 percent of the Chinese art at the auction houses.”

在這個經濟不景氣的十年，亞洲周卻一直保持着繁榮昌盛，這多虧了富裕的中國交易商與收藏家們，他們出手慷慨，身家闊綽，因此今年六月，巴黎也要舉辦第一屆亞洲周了，此外，香港也開辦了巴塞爾藝術展的分展，於週日舉行，持續三日。“中國買家是最主要的力量，”拉里說，“他們買下拍賣行75%到80%的中國藝術品。”

Kimberly Masteller, curator of South and Southeast Asia art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, said, “I have been amazed by how many young-looking agents there are, scouting for galleries, dealers and buyers in China.”

尼爾遜-阿特金斯藝術館南亞與東南亞藝術策展人金伯利·馬斯特勒(Kimberly Masteller)說：“有很多看上去很年輕的代理人在中國尋找畫廊、經銷商和買家，這讓我感到驚訝。”

Dealers turn somersaults to please them. “It is hard to grasp what to display, to get it right,” said Michael C. Hughes, a dealer renting space in Shepherd W & K Galleries on East 79th Street. Known for Chinese snuff bottles, he has added a selection of colorful Chinese earthenware camels this year. “Tang sancai ware, which used to be dead, has picked up in the last year,” he explained. “The Chinese want it.”

經銷商千方百計地取悅他們。“選擇正確的展品是非常困難的，”邁克爾·C·休斯(Michael C. Hughes)說，他在東79街的謝潑德 W & K畫廊租有一處空間，以出售中國鼻菸壺聞名，今年他又增加了一箇中國彩陶駱駝系列。“唐三彩一度已經無人問津，去年又起死回生，”他解釋，“中國人想要。”

They also want art from Nepal, Kashmir and Tibet, the regions through which Buddhism made its way to China. Mr. Kapoor said that he first noticed the trend about six years ago, when Chinese dealers began paying top dollar and then some for bronzes, in many cases regardless of quality. That has changed. “In the last three or four years we have seen collectors, some of them wanting to build museums,” he said. “They have really been educating themselves.”

他們還想要尼泊爾、克什米爾和西藏藝術品，它們都是佛教傳入中國時途經的地點。卡普爾說，六年前，他最早注意到這種趨勢，當時中國商人開始大筆花錢購買這些東西，還購買一些青銅器，很多情況下根本不管質量如何。這種情況已經有所改變。“在過去三四年間，我們看到一些收藏家想建博物館，”他說，“他們真地自學了不少東西。”

And they have been showing up in droves. Francesca Galloway, a London dealer in Indian art showing at W. M. Brady & Company, on East 80th Street, put it bluntly: “If you’re a collector and you’re not here, you’re not in the game.”

他們已經成羣結隊，陸續到來。倫敦印度藝術交易商弗朗西斯卡·加洛威(Francesca galloway)來到東80街的W·M·布拉迪與公司店，她坦率地說：“如果你是一個收藏家，卻沒有來這裏，那你就完全落伍了。”