拍出历史上最高的拍卖价是什么感觉?

In November 2017 at Christie's New York, Alex Rotter uttered a phrase never before heard at an art auction: "Four hundred million."

2017年11月，在纽约佳士得拍卖行，一个在艺术品拍卖会上，亚历克斯·罗特说出了从未听到过的竞标价:“四亿美元。”

His bid was in dollars, and the lot in question was the last known Leonardo da Vinci painting in private hands.Gasps gave way to applause, and, less than a minute later, the gavel fell to make history.

他的出价是以美元为单位的，这批有争议的藏品是已知的最后一幅列奥纳多·达·芬奇(Leonardo da Vinci)的私人画作。喘息声变成了掌声，不到一分钟，小木槌落地，创造了历史。

After fees, the "Salvator Mundi" sold for $450.3 million, obliterating auction records for a work of art.

除去费用，“救世主”以4.503亿美元的价格售出，刷新了一件艺术品的拍卖纪录。

But it wasn't Rotter who made the world-famous purchase -- it was the anonymous bidder on the end of his telephone line. In fact, he was just as surprised as anyone.

但做出这一举世闻名的购买的并不是罗特，而是电话那头的匿名投标人。事实上，他和其他人一样感到惊讶。

"I thought when we reached $200 million it would end," he recalled to CNN on the phone. "Then I thought it would end when we reached $300 million."

“我以为当我们达到2亿美元的时候就会结束，”他在电话中向CNN回忆。“然后我想当我们达到3亿美元的时候就结束。”

Austrian-born Rotter, Christie's chairman of contemporary art, wouldn't be drawn on further details. But his recollections of other record-breaking sales paint a compelling picture of high drama and pressured decision-making.

出生于奥地利的罗特是当代艺术部门佳士得的董事长，他不愿透露更多细节。但他对其他破纪录销售业绩的回忆，描绘了一幅充满了戏剧性和决策压力的引人注目的画面。

His auction day role -- which the 45-year-old admits is "quite stressful" -- sees him telling telephone bidders what's happening in the room. This means relaying the auctioneer's words and price increments in real-time, as well as communicating details about potential rivals (revealing the identity of other phone bidders is, however, "a big no-no," Rotter stressed).

现年45岁的他承认，自己在拍卖行的角色“压力很大”，他要告诉电话竞拍者房间里发生了什么。这意味着实时传达拍卖商的话语和价格涨幅，以及沟通潜在竞争对手的细节(不过，罗特强调，透露其他电话竞标者的身份是“一个大禁忌”)。

What might surprise those outside the art world, however, is that his wealthy clients don't always have a maximum price in mind -- even when it comes to multimillion-dollar paintings.

然而，艺术界之外的人可能会感到惊讶的是，他的富有的客户并不总是在心里设定最高价格——即使涉及到价值数百万美元的画作。

Identifying targets means knowing art intimately -- and seeing lots of it too.

确定目标意味着要对艺术有深入的了解——而且要看到大量的艺术作品。

With collectors increasingly shopping for art on Instagram and looking beyond Western marketplaces for returns, there are plenty of challenges facing European auction houses.

随着越来越多的收藏家在Instagram上购买艺术品，并将目光投向西方市场以外的地方寻求回报，欧洲拍卖行面临着许多挑战。