Courtesy Phillips de Pury & Company

Martin Kippenberger's "Portrait of Paul Schreber (designed by himself)" (1994) sold for £432,000 (est. £400–600,000).

Bill Viola Jeff Koons Martin Kippenberger El Anatsui Mark Grotjahn Richard Prince Zeng Fanzhi LACMA’s Big Endowment Drop May Derail Koons Train

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The result reached nowhere near the pre-sale estimate of £6,825,000-9,295,000, but it did achieve slightly encouraging buy-in rates of 34 percent by lot and 41 percent by value.

None of the offerings hit the £1 million mark (or even the $1 million mark), including the evening's biggest disappointment, the sporty, but unremarkable cover lot, Jeff Koons’s Encased-Five Rows (6 Spalding Scottie Pippen Basektballs, 6 Spalding Shaq Attaq Basketballs, 6 Wilson Supershot Basketballs, 6 Wilson Supershot Basketballs, 6 Franklin 6034 Soccerballs) (1983-93). Though billed as unique, the overvalued object, like its overblown title, drew zero action (est. £1.8-2.2 million).

The work, in which the 30 balls are all entombed in their original cardboard packaging, last sold at auction at Phillips New York in 2004, when collector Aby Rosen acquired it for $435,000. It later sold to Korean dealer Yung Hee Kim as part of a large Koons package valued at $11 million, according to several trade sources. It is believed tonight’s vendor was Kim.

At isolated moments, the market felt frisky, and a handful of lots exceeded their high estimates, including Bill Viola’s impressive video projection on gold and silver leaf panels, Unspoken (Silver & Gold) from 2001, which sold for £144,000 (est. £70-90,000). The work was one of six lots from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Contemporary Art Collections, which were being sold to benefit Iceland’s Living Art Museum.

Another strong performer was Zeng Fanzhi’s large-scale narrative painting, Huang Jiguang from 2006, which sold to a telephone bidder for £360,000 (est. £200-250,000).

That turned out to be the second highest result lot of the evening, not far behind Martin Kippenberger’s caustically clever ode to Sigmund Freud, Portrait of Paul Schreber (designed by himself) from 1994, which sold to another telephone bidder for £432,000 (est. £400-600,000).

Some artists who rode the big waves in the recent market boom appeared to have been downsized in commercial stature. Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (Pink Butterfly M02G) from 2002 sold to Stefan Ratibor of Gagosian Gallery, one of the artist’s key dealers, for £180,000 (est. £200-300,000).

“I liked the pink Grotjahn, but I already own one,” said London collector Edward Lee after the sale. “They were trading at $500-600,000 not so long ago, and I don’t know whether it’s better to sit on my hands or sell some works to get some money back.”

That mentality seemed to be the mood of the sale. As Michael McGinnis, Phillips’s worldwide director of contemporary art, noted after the session, “People are looking for discounts and bargains. In today’s market, that makes a lot of sense.”

Indeed, a sense of restraint dominated the evening, even as unusual works, such as El Anatsui’s tapestry-like Congress of Elders (2006), in aluminum and copper wire, squeaked by at £192,000 (est. £180-220,000).

Even auctioneer Simon de Pury’s high-energy antics on the podium, including long comedic bits about potential bidders having trouble getting a phone connection, did little to enliven the mood, though de Pury seemed to have a marvelous time.

While the telephones dominated the evening, there was some evidence of buying by the trade (apart from the Gagosian contingent), as New York dealer Stellan Holm snagged Dan Colen’s faux Old Master still life, Untitled (going, going, go…) from 2005, for a robust, record-setting £92,400 (est. £25-35,000).

The evening featured some big-name artists represented by relatively minor works. Richard Prince’s re-photograph in Ektacolor, Untitled (Four Women with Hats) from 1980, from an edition of 10 plus two artist proofs, sold to the telephones for £324,000 (est. £200-300,000).

In one of the oddest moments of the sale, de Pury brought back to the block a painting that had passed at an earlier point of the sale, and this time Jonathan Meese's operatic narrative painting The Temptation of the State of the Blessed Ones in Archland from 2003 sold for £120,000 to a telephone bidder (est. £150-200,000). Curiously, the hammer price of £100,000 was lower than the £110,000 at which the lot bought in the first time.

The vendor must have had second thoughts about the reserve price and lowered it to avoid an unsold casualty. Hopefully, this underperforming market won't turn into a Groundhog Day for works failing to find buyers the first go round.

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.