Enter 40913 in tokenURI at https://etherscan.io/token/0x2a46f2ffd99e19a89476e2f62270e0a...
You will see an IPFS URI which contains the metafile.json: https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/QmPAg1mjxcEQPPtqsLoEcauVeda...
This in turn contains a URL to the image: https://ipfsgateway.makersplace.com/ipfs/QmZ15eQX8FPjfrtdX3Q...
https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2021/NYR/2021_NYR_20...
Whereas the IPFS version of the image is merely 1200x1200. In this case, it really matters because the image is a mosaic that is virtually indecipherable at the 1200x1200 size.
So, it begs the question what is the person actually buying? I get that it's the concept of "ownership" that's being sold, but ownership of what exactly?
When the new owner then goes to sell "it", what do they reference? An illegible JPG?
The NFT doesn't give you jack shit. As the Conditions of Sale [0] says:
> You acknowledge that ownership of an NFT carries no rights, express or implied, other than property rights for the lot (specifically, digital artwork tokenized by the NFT).
[0] https://www.christies.com/pdf/onlineonly/ECOMMERCE%20CONDITI...
Yeah, interesting that this notion of ownership is separate from IP. And, of course anyone can download the file itself.
So, they're essentially selling the right to declare you own it and the ability to sell that right to someone else.
tho, the important piece is the network. the network doesn't know or care if random people have a locally downloaded copy of the art. all sites, services, validations, virtual worlds, whatever on the network will hit the ethereum contract which gives up an address which you've proved you own by key signature.
the network can't see nor does it care about your local files.
which means, basically, any other appearance of the art in any other place is just an ad for the current owner of the nft.
Christie's interface didn't just lead with the transaction hashes, but your conclusion is pretty far off, for now.
Try emailing them next time.
I'm understanding of the frustration, it took me a year of asking similar questions about Venezuala's Petro coin, which was even subject to pre-emptive US sanctions, before it became official that the Petro didn't exist and was never issued. Nobody could tell me the contract address and people acted like I grew two-heads for even asking, when it should have taken two seconds.
The technology allows for really basic things to be transparent, and when you don't lead with that stuff and nobody asks about that stuff, it does become pretty obvious that they aren't even using the technology.