【英语财经】Lex专栏：中国买家撑起艺术品市场 Lex_Art: Chinese cheques

Prices rise when too much money chases too few goods. Slow-growing asset classes — fine art, say — are therefore particularly sensitive.

No surprise, then, that with low interest rates following the financial crisis, art has been a leading performer. In the decade to September 2015, the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, which tracks assets from stamps to wine, trebled. Art rose 239 per cent.

As prices have risen, the size of the fine art auction market has expanded from $3bn in 2009 to more than $16bn by the end of 2014, according to a recent Citi report.

It is not all down to cheap money: wealthy Chinese buyers have been as noticeable in the art market as they have elsewhere. Last November, Chinese businessman Liu Yiqian spent more than $170m, the second highest auction price on record, to acquire a Modigliani painting. Since 2000, art sold at auction in China has grown from less than 1 per cent of the global auction market to more than a quarter. The China effect may be reversing. Proceeds from this year’s contemporary art sale at Sotheby’s, and a similar period auction at Christie’s, fell year on year.

Still, the rally in art is unlikely to abate for long as its appeal spreads. Among the top 200 art collectors there were 29 nationalities in 2013, up from just 17 in 1990. A Knight Frank survey found that nearly two-thirds of financial consultants said their wealthy clients were showing an increased interest in art. More money may yet join the chase.

太多资金追逐太少商品时价格就会上涨。因此，缓速增长的资产类别（比如艺术品）尤其敏感。

难怪，在金融危机之后的低利率推动下，艺术类资产表现出众。截至2015年9月的十年里，莱坊奢侈品投资指数(Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index)翻了三倍，该指数跟踪从邮票到红酒的各类资产。艺术品类资产上涨了239%。

据花旗(Citi)最近一份报告，随着价格上涨，高端艺术品拍卖市场规模已从2009年的30亿美元增长至2014年底的逾160亿美元。

这并不全靠廉价资金：富有的中国买家在艺术品市场上像在其他市场上一样引人注目。去年11月，中国商人刘益谦以超过1.7亿美元这一拍卖史上第二高的拍价，买下一幅莫迪利亚尼(Modigliani)的画作。自2000年以来，中国的艺术品拍卖总额占全球拍卖市场的比例已从不到1%增至逾四分之一。这种中国效应可能正在逆转。2015年苏富比(Sotheby’s)拍卖行当代艺术品的拍卖所得，以及佳士得(Christie’s)拍卖行在相仿时期的拍卖所得，都呈现同比下降。

尽管如此，随着艺术品吸引力的不断扩散，其身价涨势不太可能消退太久。2013年，全球200名大款艺术品收藏者来自29个国家，远超1990年的17个国家。莱坊的一项调查显示，近三分之二的理财顾问称，他们的富有客户对艺术品表现出更大兴趣。也许还会有更多资金加入这场追逐。

Lex专栏是由FT评论家联合撰写的短评，对全球经济与商业进行精辟分析

译者/艾卜