Mackintosh Lady with Doves Pendant

DESIGNER'S NOTES

This classic silver plated pendant features an element from a poster design by the Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928).

The 1896 poster for The Scottish Musical Review embodies the transition from Victorian ornamentation to modernist restraint.

Its elongated lettering and stylised organic forms draw from both Celtic Revival aesthetics and Japanese printmaking, merging national identity with international modernity. The symmetrical composition, dominated by a lone female face, two bright orange circles and two doves rendered in linear abstraction, suggests music’s ethereal nature while hinting at spiritual elevation through the presence of biblical birds.

The simplified colour palette of muted orange and dark green enhances rhythmic harmony, echoing musical structure. Often overlooked is Mackintosh’s subtle use of negative space, which creates a visual cadence akin to musical phrasing, establishing one of the earliest graphic examples of architectural sensibility translated into two-dimensional design.

STYLING

The pendant is a few centimetres in diameter with a 450mm chain, so style outside high necklines, or against the skin with lower necklines. Wear with jewellery of similar scale, such as a simple silver bracelet.