Courtesy Sotheby's

Jeff Koons’s "Baroque Egg with Bow (Turquoise/Magenta)" (1994–2008) was the evening's top lot, selling to dealer Larry Gagosian for $5,458,500 (est. $6–8 million).

Christopher Wool Alexander Calder Andy Warhol Jean-Michel Basquiat Jeff Koons Martin Kippenberger Robert Gober Richard Prince

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But Prince’s My Girlfriend, a 2005 joke painting measuring 92 by 72 inches, squeaked by at $662,500, selling to Los Angeles dealer Patricia Marshall, who bid in the room on behalf of a client at her side. Are Prince’s later jokes not as funny as his early ones?

Sotheby’s put together a no-frills sale, hitting the money on pre-sale expectations and keeping things at the right level for a subdued marketplace afraid of overspending.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Red Man One, from his prime year of 1982, sold to the telephone for a respectable $3,554,500 (est. $3–5 million) after being chased by New York dealer Jose Mugrabi.

Mugrabi was in fine form, also bidding on a number of Warhols as if guarding his legacy, nailing the 14-square-inch Flowers (1964) for $410,500 (est. $400–600,000) but watching Fifteen One Dollar Bills, a 1982 work on paper, go to New York dealer Lawrence Luhring for $902,500 (est. $750,000–1 million). The work on paper last sold at auction at Christie’s New York in May 2002 for $449,500.

There was very little Abstract Expressionist–era material in evidence, but David Smith’s small but regal Large Circle (Voltri) (1962) did well, selling to a telephone bidder for $2,602,500 (est. $2.5–3.5 million).

One of the evening’s few disappointments was Robert Gober’s untitled, symbolism-infused, mixed-media wall relief from 1990, which considering its rarity and importance might have performed but instead died at a chandelier-bid-aided $2.4 million (est. $2.5–3.5 million).

“The market is unexciting but stable,” said New York art adviser Allan Schwartzman moments after the sale. “It’s exactly what you would have expected. People know what they want.”

The evening action resumes at Christie’s on Wednesday.

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.