The piece was jade, a cylindrical Chinese cong from the sixth century B.C., and Lu Yizheng, a 33-year-old collector from Shanghai, was all over it. Nose to the stone, he followed the pinpoint beam of his small penlight, looking for imperfections, as four friends pressed against him for a closer view and loudly debated the merits. “This is the best of the jade I have seen,” Mr. Lu said. “The size and the quality are good; so is the provenance of the jade.”
33岁的上海收藏家陆一征（音译）俯身观看一块来自公元前六世纪中国的圆柱形玉琮，鼻子都快贴到石头上了，他用小小的笔形电筒照着，试图寻找瑕疵，四个朋友挤在他身边仔细观看，大声品评。“这是我见过的最好的玉，”陆说。“尺寸和质量都很好，玉的来源也好。”
Chinese dealers, collectors and art lovers have been out in force at Christie’s, which is auctioning the art collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in five days of sales that begin on Tuesday, with a week of online sales to follow. Ellsworth, a revered connoisseur who died last year, amassed one of the finest private collections of Asian art in the West, and the presale estimates total $35 million. Jin Zhao, who collects Tang and Song dynasty porcelain in a small way, flew in from Tianjin, China, hoping to pick up one or two pieces. “It’s worth it,” he said. “This is a very great collection.”
从周二开始，佳士得拍卖行将开始拍卖安思远(Robert Hatfield Ellsworth)的藏品，为期五天，其后还将举办一周的在线销售，中国的经销商、收藏家和艺术爱好者们趋之若鹜。安思远是一位备受尊崇的收藏家，于去年逝世，拥有西方世界最精美的私人东方艺术藏品，预售估价3500万美元。小规模收藏唐宋瓷器的靳昭（音译）从中国天津赶来，希望能买下一两件物品。“物有所值，这是非常棒的收藏，”他说。

The Ellsworth sale puts a giant exclamation point on Asia Week, an annual event that makes New York the prime destination for dealers, museum curators, scholars and collectors from around the world, a varied group that included sharp-eyed young collectors in down jackets and jeans, middle-aged dealers hunting their quarry in small packs, tweedy connoisseurs and Chinese women dressed up to Ming vase standards.
安思远的拍卖是“亚洲周”的重头戏，这项一年一度的活动吸引着全世界的交易商、博物馆策展人、学者与收藏家们赶到纽约，其中不乏目光敏锐、身穿羽绒服与牛仔裤的年轻收藏家，寻找小型物品的中年交易商，身穿粗花呢西装的文物行家与打扮得像明代花瓶般漂亮的中国女性。
“It is the largest constellation of Asian art on the face of the earth,” said Jay Xu, director of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, who is leading a team of about two dozen curators, board members, collectors and donors to New York for a furious round of looking, meeting, greeting, publicizing and acquiring. “It is very rich.”
“这是地球上最大的亚洲艺术精英人群了，”旧金山亚洲艺术博物馆馆长许杰(Jay Xu)说，他率领二十多名策展人、董事会成员、收藏家与捐赠者来到纽约，进行一系列热闹的参观、会面、寒暄、公关和购买活动。“非常丰富。”
Mr. Xu was referring to the week’s events: the exhibits, often museum quality, at the more than 40 dealers who participate in Asia Week; the shows and lectures at institutions like Asia Society and the Japan Society; the two dozen auctions of Asian art at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams and Doyle; and benefit parties like the one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the centenary of its Asian art department.
许杰指的是本周的活动：40多名参加本次亚洲周的交易商举办了各种展览，大都具备美术馆品质；亚洲协会和日本协会等机构将带来展出与讲座；苏富比、佳士得、邦瀚斯和道尔拍卖行将推出20多场亚洲艺术拍卖会；来自大都会艺术博物馆为庆祝该馆亚洲艺术部门成立一百周年而举行的慈善晚会等。
But Mr. Xu could just as well have been talking money. In a good year, Asia Week accounts for about $200 million in sales, as it did in 2014. In 2011, when Chinese buyers were spending not just freely but in many cases recklessly, the sales figure reached $250 million. This year’s Ellsworth auction could have a similar inflationary effect.
但许杰也可能是在说金钱。在2014年这样的好年头，亚洲周上的成交额可以达到两亿。在2011年，中国买家的表现不仅仅是慷慨，很多情况下简直可以用“不顾一切”来形容，当年的销售额达到了2.5亿。今年，安思远的拍卖上也可能会出现类似盛况。
Joan B. Mirviss, a week before Asia Week opened on Friday, said that she had already sold 75 percent of the 44 Japanese storage jars, ancient and modern, that she spent two years assembling for the exhibition “Tsubo: The Art of the Vessel.”
亚洲周于周五开幕，一个星期前，琼·B·默维斯(Joan B. Mirviss)说，她在售的44个古代和现代日本储物罐已经卖出了大约75%，它们原本是为“壶：容器的艺术”展览而收集的，花了她两年的时间。
Suneet Kapoor, a partner in Kapoor Galleries, a dealer in Indian art, said that Asia Week accounted for more than 50 percent of his annual sales. Other dealers attribute anywhere between one-third and two-thirds of their annual business to the event, which runs for nine days.
卡普尔艺术馆的合作者萨尼特·卡普尔(Suneet Kapoor)是印度艺术交易商，他说亚洲周上的销量占了他年度销量的50%。其他交易商在亚洲周上卖出商品的比例约占全年销售额的1/3到2/3不等。这项活动持续九天。
Less than 10 years ago, the market for Asian art in New York looked quite different. The International Asian Art Fair, held for many years at the Park Avenue Armory, went bust at the end of 2008, a victim of the economic downturn.
不到十年前，纽约的亚洲艺术品市场还完全是另一番景象。国际亚洲艺术博览会多年来一直在公园大道军械库举行，最终于2008年底宣告破产，成了经济低迷的牺牲品。
Ms. Mirviss and the Korean art dealer Jiyoung Koo hastily organized a confederation of 16 dealers, which they called Asian Art Dealers of the Upper East Side, to hold open houses that, collectively, would replace the art fair. At the same time, a half-dozen dealers making up the Japanese Art Dealers Association staged their own show, which has become an annual event.
默维斯和韩国艺术交易商Jiyoung Koo与16位交易商仓促成立了“上东区亚洲艺术交易商协会”，他们联合举办公开活动，试图取代艺术博览会。与此同时，六七个交易商成立了日本艺术交易商协会，也推出了自己的展览，后来发展为一年一度的活动。
From these beginnings, Asia Week quickly developed into its current hybrid form. “We are not an art fair,” said Carol Conover, the director of Kaikodo Asian Art and the chairwoman of Asia Week. “We are something very different. The intimacy of a gallery is different than being on a floor in a big room.”
亚洲周就是在这些起源的基础上发展起来的，很快有了目前这种混杂的形式。“我们不是艺术博览会，”怀古堂亚洲艺术馆(Kaikodo Asian Art)馆长兼亚洲周主席卡罗尔·康诺瓦(Carol Conover)说，“我们非常不一样。艺术馆的亲近感和在一个大房间里占一层的地方是很不一样的。”
The lack of a central location turned out to have advantages. “Doing it this way enables me to have my library here, to have private meetings with clients,” Ms. Mirviss said. The concentration of galleries, especially along Madison Avenue in the 70s and 80s, makes it possible for buyers to cover a lot of ground quickly and to see art in intimate settings. The intangible reassurance of bricks and mortar, moreover, is no small thing in a market where trust counts for everything.
亚洲周没有中心场馆，这也成了有利条件。“这种做事方式让我可以在这里拥有自己的书房，和客户私下里会面，”默维斯说。各家艺术馆的位置相对集中，特别是70年代到80年代，都集中在麦迪逊大街，因此买家可以很快走很多地方，以亲密的方式观看艺术品。此外，在这个“信任就是一切”的市场里，实体店铺那种难以言喻的安全感也非常重要。
“In a way, it became more dynamic when it left the armory,” Mr. Xu said. “You’re hopping around New York to see all the offerings.”
“在某种程度上，离开军械库后，这项活动变得更有活力了，”许杰说。“你可以在纽约到处跑，去参观所有东西。”
Not everyone is enthralled with the hustle and bustle. “In a way, I love it and hate it,” said James Lally, who deals in Chinese art at his gallery, J. J. Lally. “Everybody shows up, but you can only spend 30 seconds with each person. It’s difficult to maintain a polite relationship with your clients.”
不是所有人都喜欢这种忙乱。“在某种程度上，我对此又爱又恨，”詹姆斯·拉里(James Lally)说，他的画廊名叫J·J·拉里，也经营中国艺术。“所有人都会出席，但你只能花30秒钟去接待一个人。要想和客户保持彬彬有礼的关系很困难。”
Asia Week has prospered in a decade dominated by bad economic news, thanks almost entirely to wealthy Chinese dealers and collectors, whose free spending and deep pockets have led to the first Asia Week in Paris, scheduled for June, and a new branch of Art Basel in Hong Kong, which started on Sunday and will run for three days. “The dominant force is the Chinese buyer,” Mr. Lally said. “They buy 75 to 80 percent of the Chinese art at the auction houses.”
在这个经济不景气的十年，亚洲周却一直保持着繁荣昌盛，这多亏了富裕的中国交易商与收藏家们，他们出手慷慨，身家阔绰，因此今年六月，巴黎也要举办第一届亚洲周了，此外，香港也开办了巴塞尔艺术展的分展，于周日举行，持续三日。“中国买家是最主要的力量，”拉里说，“他们买下拍卖行75%到80%的中国艺术品。”
Kimberly Masteller, curator of South and Southeast Asia art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, said, “I have been amazed by how many young-looking agents there are, scouting for galleries, dealers and buyers in China.”
尼尔逊-阿特金斯艺术馆南亚与东南亚艺术策展人金伯利·马斯特勒(Kimberly Masteller)说：“有很多看上去很年轻的代理人在中国寻找画廊、经销商和买家，这让我感到惊讶。”
Dealers turn somersaults to please them. “It is hard to grasp what to display, to get it right,” said Michael C. Hughes, a dealer renting space in Shepherd W & K Galleries on East 79th Street. Known for Chinese snuff bottles, he has added a selection of colorful Chinese earthenware camels this year. “Tang sancai ware, which used to be dead, has picked up in the last year,” he explained. “The Chinese want it.”
经销商千方百计地取悦他们。“选择正确的展品是非常困难的，”迈克尔·C·休斯(Michael C. Hughes)说，他在东79街的谢泼德 W & K画廊租有一处空间，以出售中国鼻烟壶闻名，今年他又增加了一个中国彩陶骆驼系列。“唐三彩一度已经无人问津，去年又起死回生，”他解释，“中国人想要。”
They also want art from Nepal, Kashmir and Tibet, the regions through which Buddhism made its way to China. Mr. Kapoor said that he first noticed the trend about six years ago, when Chinese dealers began paying top dollar and then some for bronzes, in many cases regardless of quality. That has changed. “In the last three or four years we have seen collectors, some of them wanting to build museums,” he said. “They have really been educating themselves.”
他们还想要尼泊尔、克什米尔和西藏艺术品，它们都是佛教传入中国时途经的地点。卡普尔说，六年前，他最早注意到这种趋势，当时中国商人开始大笔花钱购买这些东西，还购买一些青铜器，很多情况下根本不管质量如何。这种情况已经有所改变。“在过去三四年间，我们看到一些收藏家想建博物馆，”他说，“他们真地自学了不少东西。”
And they have been showing up in droves. Francesca Galloway, a London dealer in Indian art showing at W. M. Brady & Company, on East 80th Street, put it bluntly: “If you’re a collector and you’re not here, you’re not in the game.”
他们已经成群结队，陆续到来。伦敦印度艺术交易商弗朗西斯卡·加洛威(Francesca galloway)来到东80街的W·M·布拉迪与公司店，她坦率地说：“如果你是一个收藏家，却没有来这里，那你就完全落伍了。”