CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868-1928) FOR MISS CRANSTON'S WILLOW TEAROOMS, GLASGOW
PAIR OF EBONISED OAK LADDER BACK CHAIRS, CIRCA 1903
£29,000
Auction: 13 August 2014 at 12:00 BST
Description
made by Alex Martin, each high back with thirteen gently bowed rectangular horizontal splats, above a later tapered drop-in rush seat on square section legs joined by five cylindrical stretchers (2)
Dimensions
104.5cm high, 44.5cm wide, 38.3cm deep
Footnote
Provenance:
Miss Cranston's Willow Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow, Scotland
Private Collection, London
Literature: Billcliffe, Roger, '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
Note: Mackintosh had produced versions of the traditional ladderback chair before, first for David Gauld in 1893 and then as a bedroom chair at Windyhill in 1901. This understated and deceptively simple design of 1903, for Miss Cranston's new Willow Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street, is his most successful treatment of this vernacular form. The dark wood against by the pale walls and tablecloths of the tearoom interiors accentuating the striking lines of this one of Mackintosh's most recognisable chairs.