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Lot 88
A collection of early to mid 20th Century vases and tea wares, to include a Royal Doulton stylish example (AF), a Chinese crackle glaze vase, decorated with mirrors, a Drums pattern ginger jar, a Hungarian Isnik decorative vase, a Japanese cloisonné vase with floral vignettes and a Chinese style part tea set with blue transfer design. (Qty)
Lot 560
GEORGE WALTON (1867 - 1933) AN IMPORTANT SET OF TWELVE `ABINGWOOD` ARMCHAIRS from the billiard room at Miss Cranston`s Buchanan Street Tea Rooms in Glasgow. The chairs of oak, with a tapering splat and compressed-heart shaped handle and broad swept arm rest. Appearing to retain the original rushed seats beneath the later upholstery. 32.5" high. See illustration Provenance: Miss Cranston`s Buchanan Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow. T.B.Lawson who purchased the chairs from the Tea Rooms c.1919 And thence by descent in the family. George Walton (1867 – 1933) Born in Glasgow in 1867, George Walton was one of eleven children. Following a junior position at the British Linen Bank which failed to captivate him, the young George threw himself into the thriving artistic world that revolved around the Glasgow School of Art. At the end of the nineteenth century the likes of Fra Newberry and ‘The Glasgow Boys’ dominated the art scene locally and George became immersed in one of the most exciting and progressive art movements imaginable. Importantly the fashion of the time was for artists to work with the decorative arts as well as the fine arts which led to the production of the many fine examples of ‘Glasgow Style’ furniture, ceramics, metalwork and complete interiors. Walton was able to fully devote his energies to design and interior decoration in 1888 when a local restaurateur offered him the opportunity to redecorate her Argyle Street premises. That restaurateur, Catherine Cranston, through her work with a number of the leading designers of the day, was to establish a global reputation and create some the centuries most remarkable interiors. As a result of this commission Walton established his own business ‘George Walton & Co. Ecclesiastical and House Decorators’, the business was very successful, with interiors, stained glass and pattern design becoming important aspects of the business’ output. Miss Cranstons had opened her first tea rooms in Argyle Street in 1878, and she quickly established a reputation for the finest teas, the finest interiors and establishing the greatest ‘Tea Rooms’ of the age. The ‘Abingwood’ chair, which has been described as one of his most distinctive designs, was first used in 1896 or 1897 for John Rowntree’s Café in Scarborough, a commission similar to those in Glasgow. The set of chairs offered for sale here furnished the billiards room at Miss Cranston’s Buchanan Street tea rooms, and must be amongst only a very limited number of chairs of this design to have been manufactured. The billiard room had a number of walls decorated with designs by Mackintosh, and the room was surrounded by some of Mackintosh’s best early work such as the smoking gallery and the ladies tea room which both had walls lavishly decorated by Mackintosh. The billiards room was a well publicised and much admired interior, at the forefront of fashion in one of the most prosperous cities in the country the billiards room inspired many other architects and designers including Edwin Lutyens who described the room as ‘all clever and original’. Mackintosh and Walton worked together on a number of occasions following the decoration of the billiard room, most notably at the Argyle Street rooms. At times distinct similarities can be seen between the work of the two designers whose work epitomises the ‘Glasgow Style’ that has become so popular. Walton left Glasgow in 1898, probably as a result of his contact with George Davison of Kodak who provided him with numerous commissions for varied work including exhibition stands, shop fronts, and interiors in London. Miss Cranston disposed of the Buchanan Street tea rooms in 1919, and it is at this time that the chairs were purchased by the current vendors grandfather T.B.Lawson, proprietor of ‘Lawsons’ Glasgow’s oldest jewellery business. With their business premises at 85 Buchanan Street and the tea rooms at 83 the chairs were well known to Mr Lawson. The set of chairs were purchased for the family’s ‘country’ property located in a small village on the banks of the river Clyde where they remained until they passed into the current ownership in 1973. Apparently the chairs that were currently in use were of a high-backed ‘Jacobean’ design, and the high-backs caused the member of staff who served the soup to bump her elbow too regularly resulting in soup being poured in all the wrong places. The low armed chairs solved this problem and they saw regular and continual family use from this date onwards, remaining in T.B.Lawsons’ grandson’s possession for some forty years. Interestingly T.B.Lawson’s son T.C.Lawson purchased Mackintosh’s masterpiece Hill House from the Blackie family and lived there for many years before it passed onto the Scottish National Trust.
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