Mackintosh Argyll chair (ebonised)

Designed by Mackintosh in 1897 for the Argyll Tea rooms and also used in his own dining room. Made of solid European oak, ebonised and upholstered in white calico.

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Height: 1.370
Width: 0.490
Depth: 0.450
(all dimensions in metres)

THE ARGYLL CHAIR c.1897
High backed chair with pierced oval backrail for the Argyll Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. The first high back chair designed by Mackintosh and one of the most subtle and striking in it’s shape and the manipulation of traditional woodworking techniques. Mackintosh was so pleased with it that he used a variant of it in his designs for the ‘Haus eines Kunstfreundes’ (House for an Art Lover) competition and also in his own dining rooms.
The Argyll Street high-backed chair also introduced the use of laths and a form of natural decoration that is so stylised as to be almost abstract. Springy laths, which give a light and airy impression, were used in several later designs for tea room furniture, while organically based decoration appeared on almost every piece of furniture that Mackintosh designed until about 1904.
The decoration of the Argyll Street furniture is by simple cut-outs, often in the shape of a flying bird, or by the addition of raised carved panels.