寻觅真品：中国藏家全球网罗遗失文物
伦敦——我们对艺术市场的观感，常常是由西方最著名画家、雕塑家作品的高昂价格来定义的。但是，另一种文化也可以激发惊人的销售额。
Last month, at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, a Chinese 18th-century Imperial porcelain “poppy” bowl sold for $21.6 million. At the same auction, an elaborately decorated “fish” vase, also thought to be of Imperial provenance from the Qianlong era, raised $19 million.
上个月在香港苏富比(Sotheby’s)拍卖行，一件18世纪的中国皇家御制“虞美人”彩瓷盌以2160万美元的价格成交。在同一场拍卖会上，一件也被认为属乾隆年间御制瓷器的华美吉庆有余花瓶则以1900万美元成交。
Buoyed by a surging economy, Chinese dealers and collectors have since the mid 2000s been bidding formidable sums for the finest artworks from their country’s past. But in recent years, as China’s economic growth has slowed, the market for its antiques has become less frothy.
受经济增长的鼓舞，中国经销商和收藏家自2000年代中期开始一直在为他们国家过去的精美艺术品出高价。但今年来，随着中国经济增长放缓，古董市场开始沉稳起来。
Just under half the 299 lots offered in Sotheby’s fall series of Chinese works of art sales in Hong Kong managed to find buyers. The Qianlong “fish” vase was marketed by the auction house as the rediscovered pair of another that was bid to an extraordinary 51.6 million pounds, then about $83 million, at a small auction house in London in 2010. The Beijing-based bidder never paid for that vase, and it was sold privately in 2013 to another buyer for $32 million to $40 million. The $19 million bid in Hong Kong for its supposed partner fell well short of that.
香港苏富比中国艺术品秋拍的299件拍品中只有不到一半找到了买家。在对乾隆吉庆有余瓶的宣传中，拍卖行称它与2010年在伦敦一家小拍卖行拍出天价5160万英镑的花瓶原属一对，如今重现人间。当时那名北京的投标方始终未为该花瓶付款，2013年花瓶被私下卖给了另一个买家，售价在3200万美元到4000万美元之间。这只据信为一对中“另一半”的花瓶此次在香港拍出的1900万美元，要比之前的价格低很多。
“People are very picky,” said Kate Hunt, a senior specialist in Chinese art at Christie’s in London, which held an auction on Tuesday as part of “Asian Art in London,” an annual series of exhibitions, auctions and lectures.
“人们非常挑剔，”伦敦佳士得(Christie’s)中国艺术资深专家何玉清(Kate Hunt)说，这家拍卖行周二举办了一场拍卖会，属于名为“亚洲艺术在伦敦”(Asian Arts in London)的年度系列展览、拍卖会与讲座中的一部分。
Reflecting the selectivity seen in Hong Kong, the sale at Christie’s raised £8.7 million, selling just over half of the 320 lots.
佳士得的这场拍卖拍得870万英镑，320件拍品成交的将将超过一半，反映了香港市场的挑剔。
“Prices stopped bubbling in 2015,” said Ms. Hunt, referring to the year that China’s stock market plunged. She added that Beijing’s recent tightening of money outflows had made it difficult for Chinese buyers to pay for top lots at auctions in Europe and America. “But the market has matured,” Ms. Hunt said. “And the Chinese love old English provenances.”
“价格泡沫在2015年破裂了，”何玉清提到了中国股市暴跌那一年。她还说，北京最近缩紧资金流出，使得中国买家很难在欧美拍卖会上为顶级拍品买单。“但市场已经成熟，”她说。“并且中国人喜欢东西有老英国出身。”
With their own market awash with forgeries, the Chinese look to Europe for pieces with ownership histories that guarantee authenticity.
随着自己国家的市场充斥伪造品，中国人向欧洲寻求那些有真品保证，且历史上归他们所有的艺术品。
Christie’s live sale in London included 24 pieces from the collection of Soame Jenyns, a renowned scholar of Oriental art, who worked as a curator at the British Museum from 1931 to 1968. This was an alluring provenance for the Chinese dealers who crowd these London sales, and there were plenty to be found in town this week, shining flashlights into bowls and vases, and taking photographs with their cellphones.
伦敦佳士得的现场拍卖包括了来自著名东方艺术学者詹宁斯(Soame Jenyns)的24件收藏，詹宁斯于1931至1968年担任大英博物馆(British Museum)策展人。对于涌入这些伦敦拍卖会的中国经销商来说，这是一个诱人的出处，并且，本周在该城有很多拍卖会有待发现，他们用手电筒照射着瓷碗和花瓶，用手机拍摄照片。
The star of the collection was undoubtedly a 15th-century gilded bronze seated Buddhist figure, estimated at £150,000 to £200,000. Remarkable for the quality of its casting and for the rare survival of its original sealed base, the piece topped the sale with a price of £1.9 million to an Asian bidder, according to Christie’s.
该系列拍品中的明星无疑是一件15世纪的镀金青铜佛坐像，估价15万至20万英镑。据佳士得称，这件拍品的亮点在于铸造的品质，此外还罕见地保住了原有的密封底座，它以超过190万英镑的全场最高价拍给了一位亚洲竞拍者。
Roger Keverne, a dealer exhibiting at “Asian Art in London,” was in the salesroom. “Two of my Chinese clients asked about the piece. They’ve been revving up on Buddhism for a while,” Mr. Keverne said. “The Cultural Revolution tried to wipe it all out. Now they want to appreciate that culture. It’s a repatriation thing.”
在“亚洲艺术在伦敦”布展的经销商罗杰·凯弗恩(Roger Keverne)当时在拍卖现场。“我的两位中国客户询问了这件东西。他们做复兴佛教的事已经有一段时间了，”凯弗恩说。“文化大革命企图彻底消灭它。但他们现在想要提升这种文化。这是一种回归。”
Chinese buyers have recently found an appreciation of the rarefied field of Buddhist sculpture, an example of which reached an auction high of $30 million in 2014. The enthusiasm might be viewed as a sign of what Ms. Hunt, the Christie’s specialist, identified as maturity in the market.
中国买家近年开始关注佛教造像这个冷僻的领域，2014年这种雕像曾创下3000万美元的拍卖纪录。这种热情在佳士得专家何玉清看来是市场成熟的表现。
Giuseppe Eskenazi, founder of Eskenazi, one of the 43 dealerships participating in “Asian Art in London,” said he had been buying Chinese Buddhist sculpture since 1972.
参加“亚洲艺术在伦敦”的43家经销商之一埃斯卡纳齐(Eskenazi)公司创始人朱塞佩·埃斯卡纳齐(Giuseppe Eskenazi)说，他从1972年开始就在购买中国佛教造像了。
“I was selling it mostly to English and American collectors, and to museums,” Mr. Eskenazi said. “There was a lack of appreciation in China. It just didn’t register. But now younger Chinese collectors bow in front of it.”
“我主要卖给英国和美国的藏家，也卖给美术馆，”埃斯卡纳齐说。“它在中国没有人欣赏。不受重视。但现在年轻的中国藏家迷恋它。”
Eskenazi has recently sold an imposing Song dynasty wooden Buddhist sculpture to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The piece was priced in a 2014 exhibition in the gallery at $25 million. This week, the gallery was offering works made during China’s fractious “Six Dynasties” period from the third to the sixth centuries, collected over four decades by the Hollywood talent agent Norman Kurland.
埃斯卡纳齐最近将一件威严的宋代木刻佛像卖给了阿布扎比卢浮宫。这件文物在画廊2014年的一次展览中标价2500万美元。本周，该画廊展出了中国历史上的混乱时期魏晋南北朝(3世纪～6世纪)的文物，它们来自好莱坞的艺人经纪人诺曼·库兰(Norman Kurland)四十余年的收藏。
With its emphasis on terra cotta tomb figures — which Chinese people traditionally regard as inauspicious to own — and serene stone Buddhist sculpture, the Kurland collection could be viewed as reflecting a scholarly Westerner’s taste, but there were plenty of Chinese admirers at the Monday night viewing. By Wednesday, the gallery said that several of the 38 pieces had sold to Chinese collectors, including three Buddhist objects. Among those was a sixth-century limestone bust of the Buddha, priced at more than $1 million.
库兰的收藏主要集中在陶俑——传统上，中国人认为拥有陶俑是不吉利的——以及安详的石刻佛雕，可以被视作一种偏西方学者的口味，但在周一晚上的观展活动中，有许多中国人慕名而来。画廊方面表示，截至周三，38件展出文物当中已经有数件卖给了中国藏家，包括三件佛教文物。其中有一尊6世纪的石灰石半身佛像，售价超过100万美元。
Other London dealers held thematic exhibitions. Priestley & Ferraro mounted a show of 20 Chinese artworks featuring elephants. The animals are a protected species in Yunnan Province and have long been revered in Chinese culture for their perceived steadfastness.
伦敦其他的文物经销商也举办了各种专题展览。觉是轩(Priestley & Ferraro)展出了20件以大象为主题的中国艺术品。在云南，这些动物是保护物种，长期以来，它们因坚定稳重的品质而一直受到中国文化的推崇。
Among the show’s less expensive items, a difficult-to-date but charming inkstone carved with an elephant quickly sold at £15,000.
在该展览一些价格没有那么贵的文物中，一件年代不详、刻有大象图案的美丽砚台迅速以1.5万英镑的价格售出。
“The usual dealers are here, but there isn’t as much for them to buy,” said David Priestley, co-founder of Priestley & Ferraro. Mr. Priestley added that the supply of high-quality Chinese artworks was being progressively depleted by the “vacuum cleaner that is China sucking the goods out of Europe.”
觉是轩的联合创始人戴维·普里斯特利(David Priestley)说：“常见的交易商都在这里，但他们可买的东西不多。”他还说，“中国这台吸尘器正在把东西从欧洲吸走。”
With the United States no longer threatening to impose a 25 percent import tariff on Chinese antiques — a move that could have benefited Europe’s art trade — London is faced with ever-diminishing supplies of quality pieces.
随着美国不再威胁要对中国古董征收25%的进口关税——此举可能有利于欧洲的艺术品贸易——伦敦高品质古董供应越来越紧张。
Repatriated Chinese antiques generally don’t come back. Those pieces that do arrive in Britain from China are often not what they seem, according to John Axford, an Asian art specialist at Woolley & Wallis, a British auction house.
回归中国的古董通常很难再回来。英国拍卖行威立士(Woolley & Wallis)的亚洲艺术专家约翰·埃克斯福德(John Axford)说，那些从中国来到英国的文物，往往真假难辨。
“You’ve got to be ever so careful. There are lots of duds out there with ‘old’ labels and receipts,” said Mr. Axford, brandishing a Song dynasty Qingbai porcelain bowl, estimated at £2,000-£3,000, at the London viewing for a coming sale at his auction house. From a Spanish collection, the bowl had a label and receipt from the New York dealer James Lally. Among the many calls and emails he made to verify the authenticity of the objects, Mr. Axford phoned Mr. Lally, who confirmed that the Qingbai bowl was an “old friend” from his stock.
“你必须非常小心才行。有很多赝品都有“古老”的标签和收据，”埃克斯福特在威立士于伦敦举行的拍卖前的预展上说，他展示了一只宋代青白瓷碗，估价在2000到3000英镑之间。这件文物来自一个西班牙的藏家，带有纽约交易商詹姆斯·劳利(James Lally)的标签和收据。为了辨明真伪，埃克斯福德打了许多电话，发了许多电子邮件，他给劳利打去电话，对方证实了这个青白瓷碗是其藏品中的“老朋友”。
“ ‘Real’ is the hard part,” Mr. Axford said.
“‘确定真假’是最难的部分，”埃克斯福德说。
