Lot Essay
Cf. Roger Billcliffe, Charles Rennie Macktinosh, The Complete Furniture, Furniture Drawings & Interior Designs, Guildford 1979, p.128, plate 1903.c. contemporary photograph of the Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow with similar examples in situ
This chair is an extremely rare example of the first series of 'Ladder Backs' designed for the Willow Tea Rooms by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It was given to the Agnoletti family by Mackintosh and this example was never used in the Willow Tea Rooms, which would explain the absence of a serial number usually found on the chairs. The first version of the chair had thirteen horizontal splats, all of identical dimensions. This design was modified after it proved to have a structural weakness, whereby the top splat bowed under the weight applied upon it. A second straight bar parallel to the top rail was therefore added for extra support to the other examples. No other known example of this unamended version of the 'Ladderback' is known to have appeared on the market.
This chair is an extremely rare example of the first series of 'Ladder Backs' designed for the Willow Tea Rooms by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It was given to the Agnoletti family by Mackintosh and this example was never used in the Willow Tea Rooms, which would explain the absence of a serial number usually found on the chairs. The first version of the chair had thirteen horizontal splats, all of identical dimensions. This design was modified after it proved to have a structural weakness, whereby the top splat bowed under the weight applied upon it. A second straight bar parallel to the top rail was therefore added for extra support to the other examples. No other known example of this unamended version of the 'Ladderback' is known to have appeared on the market.