Secretary, from the drawing room, Pownall Hall, Cheshire, England

A. H. Mackmurdo designed furniture that is distinguished by simplicity of form and by spare patterns of ornamentation. The elegance of this secretary, which resembles a pillar capped by a projecting cornice, characterizes Mackmurdo's designs; he often combined architectural forms and delicate natural motifs in beautifully proportioned and immaculately executed ways. The severity of the piece's outlines is offset by decorative inlaid panels whose flaring tulips and floral forms were designed either by Mackmurdo himself or by his fellow Guild associate Herbert P. Horne.