On February 14 at Sotheby’s before a crowded room, Edward Steichen’s “The Pond-Moonlight” shattered the world record for a photograph at auction, selling to applause for $2,928,000, almost three times its high estimate to Peter MacGill of Pace-MacGill Gallery on behalf of a private collector.

The photograph was one of 113 lots offered over two days in the sales of important photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including works from the Gilman Paper Company collection, which totaled $14,982,900 and was 100 percent sold by lot and by amount. A total of 91 percent of the lots sold over their high estimates and the average lot value was $132,592.

Also highlighting the single-owner sale, which featured turn-of-the-last century and Twentieth Century photographs, were two photographs by Alfred Stieglitz of Georgia O’Keeffe – “Hands,” which brought $1,472,000, a record for the artist at auction, and “Nude,” which achieved $1,360,000, both selling to Fraenkel Gallery. Additional artist records were set for Margrethe Mather, Paul Outerbridge Jr and Margaret Bourke-White at auction, among many others.

Denise Bethel, senior vice president and director of Sotheby’s photographs department in New York, said, “With the outstanding price achieved for Edward Steichen’s magnificent ‘The Pond-Moonlight,’ just shy of $3 million, the medium of photography now ranks in the auction market at a level previously reserved for the more traditional fine arts of painting, sculpture and drawing.”

Alfred Stieglitz, “Hands,” $1,472,000, a record for the artist at auction.

“This would not be a surprise to Edward Steichen, AlfredStieglitz, Edward Weston or to the many other photographers whoseworks we have just sold for such incredible prices. Beginning inthe early decades of the Twentieth Century, these photographers allwaged the battle to have photography regarded as an art, which theybelieved it to be. A little over a century after it was made, ‘ThePond-Moonlight’ proves them right.”

“This auction will be remembered as a defining moment in the annals of the photographs market, both for the prices achieved and the energy and excitement in the room, especially during the evening sale. Sotheby’s was honored to have been chosen to offer these works of such impressive dual provenance, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Gilman Paper Company, two of the most highly regarded collections of photographs in the world. For those of us who have been passionate about photographs for years, this auction signals the beginning of a whole new phase in the development and maturity of our market, and we see only great things ahead in the years to come.”

“We are immensely pleased,” said Malcolm Daniel, curator in charge of the Metropolitan Museum’s department of photographs. “As we had hoped, the proceeds of this sale will go far in supporting the museum’s acquisition of the Gilman Collection.”

Steichen’s masterful multiple-process photograph “The Pond-Moonlight” set a new world record for a photograph at auction and also established a record for the artist.

The best of his early landscapes, “The Pond-Moonlight” was made by Steichen in his mid-twenties and shows the young photographer working at the very peak of his aesthetic and technical abilities. It is one of three known prints of this image; the two others reside in museum collections — one retained in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Alfred Stieglitz, “Nude,” $1,360,000.

The underbidder for “The Pond-Moonlight,” Solomon Fine Art,was bidding on behalf of a private collector and was latersuccessful in securing another Steichen, “Balzac – The Open Sky,”for $632,000.

The two photographs by Stieglitz of O’Keeffe – “Hands” and “Nude” – were part of an extensive series of pictures created soon after the two became lovers in 1917. Over two decades, in dozens of sittings, Stieglitz recorded not only her face, her hands and her torso, but also her moods and metamorphoses.

Rounding out the sales’ top ten lots were, Alfred Stieglitz, “Georgia O’Keeffe (In Front of Charcoal Drawing),” $531,200; Paul Outerbridge Jr, “Marmon Crankshaft,” $374,400 (record for the artist at auction); Margaret Bourke-White, “Gargoyle, Chrysler Building, New York,” $352,000 (record for the artist at auction); Alfred Stieglitz, “Georgia O’Keeffe (By Car),” $329,600; Walker Evans, “Alabama Tenant Farmer (Floyd Burroughs),” $307,200 (record for the artist at auction); and Edward Steichen, “The Pool – Evening: A Symphony to a Race and to a Soul,” $296,000.

Prices reported include buyer’s premium, which is 20 percent of the hammer price on the first $200,000, and 12 percent thereafter. For information, 212-606-7000 or www.sothebys.com.