Wealthy investors looking for a reprieve from recent volatility in stocks and bonds will soon have a sophisticated way to play the art market, even if they can't tell a Rubens from a sandwich.

All they need is money to burn—about $200,000 minimum—and a taste for new risk.

With cold calculation, Artistic Investment Advisers, a British money-management firm, has set a July 1 launch for what is being billed as the first hedge fund to trade art like a commodity and to offer a hedge if the market goes south.

The Art Trading Fund, which says it has attracted about $40 million from investors, is among a growing number of new investment vehicles trying to harness investor interest in assets not subject to the vagaries of the stock or bond markets. It is also a testament to the financial world's ability to commoditize, securitize, and trade just about anything.

In addition to those focusing on art, hedge funds tracking the market for vintage wine and rare violins have cropped up recently, while Wall Street traders have been making sport of arbitrage on everything from fine watches to duck decoys.

"The people of Wall Street are setting a new trend," says Denis Gardarin, director of the Sean Kelly Gallery, which represents contemporary artists, in New York City. He adds that the rise in some auction prices has been propelled by a new focus on investment returns and the desire among some investors to show off both their money and their power.

"There is this exhibitionist sort of behavior now," he says. "How you are supposed to collect and what you collect is being shaken by this."

Driven by the same global liquidity that has fueled a buyout boom, prices for many contemporary artworks have skyrocketed in recent years.