Lot 344
CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868-1928) FOR MISS CRANSTON'S WILLOW TEAROOMS
LADDERBACK CHAIR, CIRCA 1903
Auction: Design Since 1860 Day Two | Thurs 15th October | Lots 246 to 524
Description
ebonised oak, with drop-in rush seat, stamped to the seat block 100, stamped to the seat 108
Dimensions
45.7cm wide, 103.5cm high, 44.5cm deep
Provenance
Miss Cranston's Willow Tea Rooms, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Scotland
Estate of the late Eric Sloane
Footnote
Literature: Billcliffe R. Charles Rennie Mackintosh: The Complete Furniture Drawings & Interior Designs, Moffatt 2009, pp. 150-165, illus. 1908.8 and in situ at 1903 C; D; E; F; J; H & I
Designed in 1903 for Miss Cranston’s Willow Tea Rooms on Sauchiehall Street, this chair is regarded as Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s most successful treatment of this vernacular form.
He had produced ladderback chairs previously, most recently in 1901 for Windyhill. The Windyhill iteration has the same materials, an ebonised wood frame and rush seat, as well as the proliferation of rungs on the seat-back. Where the Willow Tea Rooms example differs is in its overwhelming statement of strength, with rectangular and square section uprights and legs. The elongated nature of the back is then further emphasised by the extension of the seat-back rungs to below the seat, resulting in their interaction with the stretchers at the chair’s base. The outcome is a complete aesthetic in which the chair speaks as a single, harmonious entity rather than the seat, legs and back being distinguishable elements.
Contemporary photographs show ladderback chairs of this design set around white cloth covered tables at Miss Cranston’s Willow Tea Rooms, the wood panelling and walls a similarly pale colour. In this context the dark wood and striking line of the chairs is perfectly accentuated. This design is one of Mackintosh’s most recognisable chairs and Cassina of Milan reproductions, both of this model and the more stylised Hill House example, have extended the impact and renown of his work.