TWO pairs of unique stained oak dining chairs, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for a decorator friend, will be auctioned online this week.

The chairs, originally part of a set of six, are upholstered in horsehair fabric and were created by Mackintosh in 1910 for William Douglas, a house-painter and wallpaper hanger. The artist employed Douglas for various projects including Hous’hill in Nitshill and Miss Cranston’s home – after he designed the interiors for her tearooms in Glasgow.

Douglas met Mackintosh in Glasgow after he moved from Blairgowrie, in Perthshire, with his widowed mother. He built his business in the city’s West George Street. By 1910, Mackintosh was in the last phase of creativity as an architect and designer in Glasgow and had completed the second phase of Glasgow School of Art, perhaps his greatest work, the year before.

John Mackie, a director at Lyon & Turnbull, and 1860-1945 design specialist, said: “The sale represents a rare opportunity to purchase scarce original furniture designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. “Only six of these chairs were made and their design demonstrates Mackintosh’s skill in transforming traditional vernacular forms into something new.”

Bidding will start at £15,000 for each pair on Thursday.