In sharp contrast to last week’s contemporary art evening sale at archrival Sotheby’s, which buoyed hopes of a recovering market, the news this evening at Christie’s wasn’t so hot.

The sale achieved a puny result of £8,392,750 ($12,085,560) compared to the pre-sale estimate of £14.5–20.9 million, and while only six of the 29 lots offered failed to sell for a crisp 21 percent buy-in rate, the result for lots unsold by value was a relatively huge 49 percent.

That mind-the-gap result was due to the buy-ins of the evening’s two most expensive lots, works by Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko that represented combined pre-sale estimates of £6.5–9.5 million, or almost half of the sale.

Only one lot achieved more than £1 million, with four cracking the $1 million mark. The top earner was Jeff Koonss painting Monkeys (Ladder) from 2003, featuring a pair of cavorting inflatable primates that partially obscure the female nude behind them. The work sold to Stefan Ratibor of Gagosian Gallery for £1,385,250 (est. £1.4–2 million).

“The Koons is a steal,” said New York art adviser Sandy Heller, shortly after the 40-minute auction.

He wasn’t kidding, at least according to the performance of Cheeky, the last Koons painting from the same series that sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 2008 for $4,002,500 (est. $4–6 million).

While it’s impossible to generalize about how severe an overall market correction is taking place, if you look at this Koons, it’s a steep one.

That said, the vast majority of lots — 91 percent, to be exact — performed within range or above pre-sale estimates when you include the buyer’s premium.

One such strong performer was Willem de Koonings unremarkable Women Singing I from 1966, which sold to a telephone bidder for £825,250 (est. £650–850,000).

The identical price was achieved for Alberto Burris burned and brutal Combustione Plastica from 1956 (est. £800,000–1.2 million), which also sold to the phones.

Overall, there was very little bidding action in Christie’s early-19th-century salesroom, perhaps a result of the awkward to decision to hold the Sotheby’s contemporary auction last week and the Christie’s one tonight. There were several noticeable empty seats in the room.

Even so, it was a European dominated sale, with 66 percent of the lots going to the continentals, 27 percent to the U.S., four percent to the United Kingdom, and four to Asia.

Another work by Koons, Jim Beam-Log Car from 1986, a small sculpture in stainless steel and bourbon, from an edition of 3 plus one artist’s proof, sold to another telephone bidder for £445,250 (est. £400–600,000).

Even blue-chip, postwar artists are being number crunched to a new reality. Jean Dubuffets excellent Miss Araignée from June 1950 sold to another anonymous telephone bidder for £713,250 (est. £400–600,000). The work was last offered at Christie’s London in June 2004 when the guaranteed painting failed to sell against an estimate of £1–1.5 million.

Another Christie’s-owned property, the grandly scaled and super tough Jenny Saville painting Juncture from 1994, featuring the backside of a huge nude with her face scrunched into one corner, sold for £457,250 (est. £300–400,000). The work was last seen at the firm’s debut at Maastricht’s TEFAF art fair in March 2007.

Tonight’s result comes closest to that of Christie’s February 2004 sale that made £8 million ($14.6 million) but with a larger entry field and 35 of the 48 lots selling. Last year’s February sale, by contrast, earned £72,930,500 ($143.1 million).

Other highlights — and there weren’t many — included Takashi Murakamis manically smiling Flower Ball (Brown) from 2007, which drew three bidders and sold to the telephones for £397,250 (est. £300–500,000).

It was a good sign for Murakami’s market, especially since the artist’s new show opened last night at Gagosian Gallery’s mini–Davies Street space.

The evening’s biggest disappointment was a rare-to-market Francis Bacon painting, Man in Blue VI from 1954 (est. £4–6 million), which was being offered by the owner who acquired the work from a London gallery in 1971 for £31,500.

There wasn’t a single bid in the room or on telephones for the dark and rather sinister figure, part of a series of seven paintings done by Bacon from life, after his astounding run of Pope paintings. This businessman is also screaming.

“For those of us with long memories, Bacon is an artist who has often been very thin at auction,” said London private dealer Ivor Braka shortly after the sale. “We’re not talking about Picasso here with 200 buyers.”

Still, tonight’s bid-less auction is a long way from the £26.3 million fetched for the artist’s Triptych from 1974–77 at Christie’s London last February when the market was still red hot.

The other pricey casualty was a different story: Mark Rothko’s small and unimpressive late painting Green, Blue, Green on Blue (1968), which was bought in at £2.2 million (est. £2.5–3.5 million).

Remarkably, the work last sold at Christie’s New York in November 2007 for $6,089,000, when the art market was rocketing.

“The golden rain is finished,” said the Cologne-based dealer Alex Lachmann. “It’s like the 1990s again.”

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.