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Christie's can thank an anonymous Japanese telephone bidder for going on a shopping spree Tuesday, picking up $74.5 million worth of blue-chip artworks and injecting the house's $318.4 million contemporary sale with a verve that was absent the night before at rival Sotheby's.

The biggest prize for Paddle No. 1733 was an untitled, 16-foot-wide Jean-Michel Basquiat painting that sold for $57.3 million, over its $40 million estimate. The price broke the artist's previous auction record of $48.8 million set six years earlier with "Dustheads" and went a long way to calming collectors who felt jitters after Sotheby's disappointing, $145 million sale Monday. (Sotheby's sale featured impressionist and modern art, a category Christie's will face Thursday.)

The Japanese buyer also bought a $1.7 million Bruce Nauman neon sign "Eat War," a $5.8 million red Alexander Calder mobile "Sumac 17," and a $9.7 million Richard Prince "Runaway Nurse" from 2005-2006, the last edging close to its $10 million high estimate and establishing a new auction-high for Prince as well.

The exuberance of this collector, and a smattering of others, gave the sale a lively atmosphere that overshadowed the fact that several other major offerings barely sold at all. Other bidders only had to lob a single bid to win Mark Rothko's $32.6 million abstract from 1957, "No. 17," and Clyfford Still's $28.2 million "PH-234" from 1948.

Other works by Robert Gober, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha sold for below their asking prices. Los Angeles collectors Bill and Maria Bell only had to raise their paddle once to win a $1.5 million Ruscha, "If, If," below its $2 million low estimate.

But Christie's said it worked overtime to reach out to prospective first-timer collectors, nudging them in the days and hours before the sale to capitalize on the tepid art market overall and try to win art bargains, said Brett Gorvy, Christie's chairman of postwar and contemporary art. The gambit worked on Beijing buyout firm chief Edward Zeng, who said he flew to New York last week to attend New York's Frieze Art Fair and stuck around to win a $3.4 million Yves Klein "Untitled Blue Monochrome (IKB 108)" at Christie's.

"When did I start collecting art? A week ago," Mr. Zeng said afterward. "But I live in Beijing where we have so much pollution, and this looks like a blue sky."

Elsewhere during the sale, Christie's sold Agnes Martin's subtle white grid work, "Orange Grove," for $10.7 million, a new record for the minimalist. Other records were reset for Mike Kelley, Kerry James Marshall and Barry X Ball. Joan Mitchell's colorful abstract "Noon" also sold for $9.8 million, over its $7 million estimate.

It remains to be seen whether the Christie's sale will brighten the mood of the market overall, which has been choppy in recent months. The Christie's sale can only be read as a triumph, though, as it surpassed its own $280 million expectations and sold 87% of its offerings.

Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad isn't quite convinced. Walking out of the sale, New York investor Andrew Saul shook Mr. Broad's hand and said, "Strong sale, right?"

Mr. Broad nodded but seconds later said, "I've seen all this before. I think Christie's pulled off a good sale, but I think the market is ready to take a pause."

Corrections & Amplifications: Richard Prince's "Runaway Nurse" sold for $9.7 million. An earlier version of this article incorrectly omitted the word "million." (May 10, 2016)

Write to Kelly Crow at kelly.crow@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 11, 2016 00:15 ET (04:15 GMT)

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