Allan Forbes Ure was a passionate supporter of Mackintosh from a very early age. In 1923, when he was a young aspiring architect, he visited Mackintosh at his studio at Glebe Place, Chelsea, to ask if he might be able to work with him. Unfortunately Mackintosh was in the final stage of his preparation to move to Port Vendres in the south of France and Ure's ambitions went unfulfilled. His interest and enthusiasm for Mackintosh remained undimmed however, and he went on to devote himself to preserving Mackintosh's legacy, rescuing what he could of Mackintosh's remaining work from the hands of the developers and forming a considerable collection of his own. In the process he became something of an authority on Mackintosh's work and he was often called upon to document or authenticate pieces brought to his attention. In the early 1950s he purchased Windyhill, the house designed by Mackintosh for William Davidson in 1900, and on arrival he discovered a number of original Mackintosh fittings for the house which had been discarded by the previous owners stored in the loft and the wash-house.

The present design was used extensively by Mackintosh in his own flat at 120 Mains Street Glasgow, as shades for gas lamps. He removed them to his house at 18 Southpark Avenue in 1906, where he devised the adaptation seen in the present example for use with electric fittings. Similar designs were also used at the White Room of the Ingram Street Tea Rooms in 1900. Several other examples are in the collection at the Hunterian Art Gallery

An example of this shade was sold through these Rooms on 17 February 1994, Collection of Dr. Thomas Howarth, lot 132

Cf. The Studio, Special Summer Number, Modern British Domestic Architecture and Decoration, 1901, pl.113 & 115, contemporary photographs of the interior of 120 Mains Street, Glasgow, showing examples of shades in situ
Roger Billcliffe, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, The Complete Furniture, Furniture Drawings and Interior Design, London 1989, pp.71-72, pl.1900.B, 1900.C & 1900.F