A STORY TO SAVOUR

Pieces by the Scottish artist, designer and architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, are exceptionally rare at auction, so when a silver cutlery set came up for sale at Lyon & Turnbull, collectors sharpened their knives, says Caroline Wheater

- Caroline Wheater

Held in a deconsecrated chapel in the heart of Edinburgh, Lyon & Turnbull's 'Design Since 1860' auction always offers a cornucopia of Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic Movement delights. At the spring sale you could have bought some 'Tulip & Rose' woven wool panels by William Morris; a pair of 'Antelope' tiles by William De Morgan; or a fine walnut-and-leather duet stool by CR Ashbee. And that's just for starters. Nestled among the 490 lots was a remarkably modern-looking set of silver cutlery, designed in 1902 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, one of Scotland's most famous sons. Says head of sale, John Mackie: 'It's difficult to categorise the cutlery, but you could argue that it anticipates a Modernist style, as seen in Josef Hoffmann's 1903 Flaches Modell (flat model) series of cutlery, showcased at the Wiener Werkstätte exhibition, 'The Laid Table', in Vienna in 1906.' Certainly, Mackintosh's design was light-years ahead of its time; closer to mid-century Danish homewares than Edwardian.