1898

Armchair 1897-1898

Designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (Isle of Man 1865 – Bedford 1945); made by Guild and School of Handicraft, London

Oak, leather, silk

Height: 160.6 cm. Width: 67 cm. Diameter: 57 cm.

A stellar example of the English Arts and Crafts movement, this high-backed chair was part of the furnishings of the radically novel reception room Ernst Ludwig commissioned for the Darmstadt Neue Palais. The architect and designer Balli Scott collaborated with Charles Ashbee, whose Guild and School of Handicraft executed work.

You can see little Elisabeth sitting on this armchair’s armrest in a photograph taken in 1898. There are more images from this same session, and of Princess Victoria Melita herself posing alone on this chair.

sources: 

first image and text below: Hesse: a princely German collection

second image: my collection