Which commercial art galleries will survive the global pandemic?

Aquamaniles are hollow, quadruped animal vessels with tail-to-neck handles on their backs. They were cast in metal and used to pour water for the washing of hands. Nowadays they are sought after by collectors, and this one is priced at $250,000 (£203,000).

Meanwhile, another TEFAF exhibitor, Asian art dealer Paul Moss, is trumpeting the healing properties of a serene, bejewelled and gilded 11th-century carved wood Japanese Buddha which he calls the “Medicine Master Buddha” (note the medicine jar in his left hand).

“This Buddha attracted a mass following in Japan because of his ability to heal what is beyond human control,” says Moss, who believes the exhibit protected him and his staff in Maastricht. “There are no other examples in the West on this scale [over 6ft high] and he specifically guards against epidemics.” Priced at $1.2 million (£980,000), it’s just the thing for a wealthy hypochondriac.

Other galleries are trying to generate business by offering discounts. Photography gallery Atlas, which was midway through an exhibition of Fifties fashion shots by Lillian Bassman, is offering 15 per cent discounts to clients who will write, in a few words, what a favourite image bought from the gallery means to them.