An 'exceptionally rare' piece of work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh has sold at auction for the remarkable price of £250,000.
The mahogany bedside cabinet, designed by Mackintosh in 1916, was the subject of an international bidding war after it led Lyon & Turnbull's specialist Decorative Arts: Design since 1860 auction.
Designed for 78 Derngate in Northampton - the only house Mackintosh designed in England - the sleek cabinet has a clear emphasis on angular lines and minimal decoration, and marked a departure from the curvilinear and stylised decorative motifs which dominated much of his earlier work.
Meanwhile, a rare pencil drawing (a design for a book cover) by Mackintosh's sister-in-law, Frances Macdonald McNair, sold for £125,000 - more than ten times the estimate £10,000-£15,000.
Lyon & Turnbull's Head of Design and company director, John Mackie said, "We are delighted with the success of the sale. The prices achieved today reaffirm the international standing of these visionary Glasgow School artists and the ongoing appetite of the market to acquire outstanding design.”
The Mackintosh cabinet and the drawing, Das Eigenkleid Der Frau (Women's Own Dress) , were sold as part of a two-day Decorative Arts: Design since 1860 auction, featuring over 600 items - including works by iconic designers Christopher Dresser, E.W. Godwin, William Morris, Archibald Knox, William De Morgan and, of course, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Frances Macdonald McNair.
