CIRCA 1900, THE DESIGN ATTRIBUTED TO SIR ROBERT LORIMER

Sir Robert Lorimer (1864-1929), architect of the Thistle Chapel and the National War Memorial in Edinburgh, was a leading designer of Scottish vernacular furniture. His output combined Scottish Baronial and Gothic Revival influences with the Arts and Crafts credo that furniture construction should be simple and honest and that wood should 'tell its own tale':-- hence, on the present lot, revealed dowels at the top of the legs, a minimum of ornament, and the use of unstained, unveneered oak of the best quality. Although no specific design exists for the current table, the fact that Lorimer designed two very closely related tables for Edinburgh University Library makes an attribution to him in this case almost certain.