The reliefs were part of a smoker’s cabinet by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The cabinet with the two reliefs was displayed at the Eighth Exhibition of the Vienna Secession, in the “Scottish Room”, in 1900.
silver plated metal; relief decoration, partly with hammered decor; “Day” relief marked lower right Margaret MacDonald, “Night” relief marked lower right Margaret MacDonald 1899; the upper section slightly trimmed, traces of age, usage and colour; the reliefs were nailed onto black wooden strips at a later date.
Measurements:
“Day” relief: 58.6 x 10.6 cm;
“Night” relief: 58.4 x 10.7 cm. (MP)

Provenance:
Viennese Private Collection.

Literature:
inter alia Dekorative Kunst, VII, 1900–1901, pp. 171; Ver Sacrum, 1901, issue 23, p. 384; Das Interieur, IV, 1903, p. 139; Billcliffe, Roger; Vergo, Peter, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Austrian Art Revival, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 119, No. 896, fig. 4 and fig. 7, special issue devoted to European art since 1890 (Nov. 1977), pp. 739–746; Billcliffe, Mackintosh, The Complete Furniture, p. 61, DI 1899.2, p. 95, 1900.M; Howarth, Mackintosh and the Modern Movement, pp. 151-54, plate 59; Sekler, Eduard, Mackintosh and Vienna, Architectural Review, CXLIV, 1968, pp. 455-56; Kossatz, Horst Herbert, The Vienna Secession and its early relations with Great Britain, Studio International, 1971, p. 9; smoker’s cabinet: The Hunterian, The University of Glasgow, GLAHA: 41083 and sketchbook page (reliefs): GLAHA: 53013/48. (MP)

The present reliefs were part of a smoker’s cabinet by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. This piece of furniture was acquired by Hugo Henneberg after the exhibition and kept in his house, built by Josef Hoffmann on Hohe Warte in Vienna. The reliefs by Margaret MacDonald were considered lost.
We are grateful to Dr. Anne Rossberg, curator at MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna and Roger Billcliffe, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow, for their generous support.