Reproduced by courtesy of Blackwell, The Arts & Crafts House, Lakeland Arts Trust. Photo: www.photographybyward.co.uk
Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott is one the most celebrated architects of the British Arts and Crafts movement.
He trained in Bath and on the Isle of Man, and became known for his exquisitely crafted houses, interiors and furniture.
This secretaire, designed around 1901, features as the first object in the catalogue of furniture designed by Baillie Scott for The Pyghtle Works in Bedford. The range was intended to make the architect's designs more accessible to a growing middle-class market.
The secretaire is the only known example of its kind, and may be the original featured in the catalogue. The oak piece is decorated with an Arts and Crafts design in pewter, holly, ebony and ivory. The front opens to form a writing desk, complete with internal pigeonholes.
It joins the collection at Blackwell, the Arts & Crafts house in Bowness-on Windermere designed by Baillie Scott and managed by Lakeland Arts.
Provenance
The Secretaire, designed by Baillie Scott c.1901, features as object number 1 of 120 in Baillie Scott™s catalogue "The Pyghtle Works", a catalogue made to reach beyond private commissions and make Baillie Scott™s furniture designs mo