Mackintosh bedside cabinet fetches £250,000

A BEDSIDE cabinet designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh has sold for £250,000 at auction.

The Scottish architect and designer created the mahogany cabinet in 1916 for the only house he designed in England, 78 Derngate in Northampton, which is now a visitor attraction.

With its angular lines and minimal decoration, it marks a departure from the curved and stylised motifs that characterised much of his earlier work.

The piece led Lyon & Turnbull’s specialist Decorative Arts: Design since 1860 auction after being placed for sale by a private collector in London.

It sparked an international bidding battle at the online auction on Tuesday, selling for £250,000 – well in excess of the estimated sale price of £100,000 to £150,000.

Meanwhile, a work by one of the Glasgow Four – Mackintosh’s sister-in-law Frances Macdonald Mcnair – sold for £125,000, more than 10 times the lower end of its estimated price of £10,000-£15,000.

The signed pencil drawing known as Das Eigenkleid Der Frau (Women’s Own Dress) is a design for a book cover.

Lyon & Turnbull 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.”