Dog-grate by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott

Dog-grate

Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott

c. 1896

Wrought-iron and pierced and beaten copper

30 1/2 (17.5 cm.); width: 39 inches (99 cm.); diameter 20 inches (50.7 cm.)

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Baillie Scott in The Studio article wrote "most of the wrought-iron grates of the shops, however good they may be in design, all bear the mark of articles for sale. That unique individual character which may be noted in old wrought-iron work dumbly expressing the love of the workman for his work, although it may seem a trivial matter, is just the little more which constitutes the essential difference between the lifeless commercial product and vital work of art.The dog-grate, which is here illustrated, was made by a local smith from a design by the present writer."

References

Architect-Designers from Pugin to Mackintosh. Exhibition catalogue. London: The Fine Art Society with Haslam & Whiteway Ltd., 1981. No. 57.

Baillie Scott, M. H. "The Fireplace of the Suburban House." The Studio, vol Vl, p 106.

Last modified 20 November 2006