Phillips de Pury & Company provided an underwhelming end to this week of contemporary evening sales, coming in at a tepid $7,752,500, compared with pre-sale expectations of $12.2–17 million.

Thirty-one of the evening’s 43 lots found buyers, for a sold rate of 72 percent by lot and, by value, a disappointing 57 percent.

Only one lot, Philip Gustons gutsy figurative late work Anxiety (1975), featuring a rotary telephone and a bacon sandwich, squeaked past the million-dollar mark at $1,082,500 (est. $1–1.5 million), selling to a private buyer in the firm’s Chelsea salesroom.

Of the top 10 lots, only seven (including the Guston) made it over $400,000, indicating a kind of Maginot Line for works considered sub–blue chip or younger than Jesus.

Of those, Sherrie Levines brilliant homage to Duchamps readymade urinal, Fountain (Buddha) (1996), in a high-polished cast bronze edition of six, sold to a telephone bidder for $446,500 (est. $150–200,000).

“I got outbid” on the Levine, declared New York private dealer Jennifer Vorbach, who also competed for Mark Grotjahns 6-foot-high abstract painting Untitled (White Butterfly, Blue MG) (2001), which sold to the artist’s L.A. dealer, Tim Blum of Blum & Poe, for $386,500 (est. $200–300,000).

Buttonholed moments later, Blum observed, “Really good-quality things are selling for fair market value, whatever that is. It’s spectacularly clear.”

That “fmv” sensibility kept a tight rein on prices, which rarely matched individual high estimates.

There were a handful of exceptions, including James Rosenquists powerhouse painting Untitled #1 (Neiman Marcus) (2002), part of his “Speed of Light” series, which sold to New York private dealer Kim Heirston for $422,500 (est. $250–350,000).

Some of the sold lots performed poorly against previous market results, such as John Baldessari’s three-part painting Person with Pillow: Desire/Lust/Fate (1991), which went to a telephone bidder for $290,500 (est. $300–400,000).

It last sold at auction for $451,000, at Sotheby’s New York in November 2007.

The sole classic work offered from the 1960s, Dan Flavins minimal yet elegant fluorescent-lit sculpture Untitled (“Monument for V. Tatlin”) 22 from 1964, sold to New York private dealer Meredith Palmer for $458,500 (est. $400–600,000).

“I think there are some very good buys now,” said Palmer as she headed for the exit, “but I feel the [price] level is still not corrected fully.”

That sentiment was proved several times over, and especially with the evening’s expected star lot, Robert Gobers giant, 80-inch-high cereal box sculpture, Untitled, in wood vinyl and acrylic paint from 1993–94. It went unsold after eliciting a lone telephone bid of $1.6 million (est. $2.5–3.5 million).

It has been a lousy week for the celebrated and critically acclaimed artist, with another major untitled Gober failing to sell at Sotheby’s evening sale on Tuesday.

The unique work at Phillips sold in the primary market at Paula Coopers New York gallery the year it was made for approximately $100,000.

But Gober was hardly alone. An untitled 2005 painted aluminum wall relief by Anish Kapoor (est. $800,000–1.2 million) expired without any bids at all.

Even though the art market has been in a period of “recalibration” since the global financial crisis began last fall, it’s still difficult to fathom why certain recent art stars’ stock is falling.

Still, such falls were evident. Elizabeth Peytons early and admittedly rather awkward double-portrait Genuina y Pura (1990) (est. $300–400,000) failed to sell, and Richard Princes underwhelming but still unmistakably Princely Untitled (Check Painting) #6 from 2004 expired at the $130,000 mark (est. $150–200,000).

What would those $8 million "Nurse" paintings go for now?

There was an atmosphere of relative gloom or benign neglect in the Phillips salesroom, especially given the triumph of Christie’s evening sale the night before. But when works were set at the correct price points, the boutique firm found buyers.

Phillips continued its strong suit of presenting younger artists. Aaron Young's three-part abstraction Burn Out (California Is a Garden of Eden, A Paradise for You and Me, But Believe or Not) (2008), in burnt rubber and acrylic on aluminum panel, sold to London dealer Simon Lee for a record $60,000 (est. $35–45,000).

Also holding its own was super-traded Chinese artist Feng Zhengjies Chinese Portrait L Series 2006 No. 10 (2006), which sold to Dutch collector Herman Heinsbroek for $128,500 (est. $70–90,000).

“I think a year ago it would have sold for $360,000,” said Heinsbroek after the sale, “so it’s a third the price. I’m pretty comfortable it won’t go any lower. We are getting to the bottom of the crisis, I think. Slowly but surely, it will go up again.”

It did feel that way at moments, despite the glaringly unpacked salesroom, evidence that the long week of sales had taken its toll on spectators’ appetites and buyers’ pocketbooks.

Apprising the action moments after the sale, star auctioneer and Phillips de Pury’s namesake chairman Simon de Pury noted, “The Robert Gober didn’t sell this evening even though it’s a seminal work in his oeuvre. The picture tonight would look very different with the star lot sold.”

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.