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Lot Essay
Giles Grendey (1693-1780) flourished amongst the top rank of London's cabinet-makers during the second quarter of the 18th century. He is widely recognised for the bold line of his seat furniture, often incorporating distinctive carved shells, and for his use of japanned decoration. His career spanned more than 50 years and he established a prolific workshop with a wide range of clients including in the 1740s Richard Hoare of Barn Elms and Henry Hoare of Stourhead. Grendey was one of the earliest and most prolific labellers of his wares and so the products of his workshop have long been known. His career is described in C. Gilbert in the Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, pp. 31-32, and many examples of his work illustrated, pp 238 - 249, figs. 429 - 452, including a side chair closely related to the present, p. 242, fig. 435.
THE ‘JOURNEYMAN’
Many chairs from Grendey's workshop bear his journeymen's stamps, thought to be the initials of individual chair-makers employed by Grendey (see C. Gilbert and G. Beard, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986 p. 372). One of the recorded initial stamps is 'TT' .
Lucy Wood has identified the same stamp on the set of twelve chairs almost certainly supplied by Grendey between 1734 - 40 to Sir Jacob de Bouverie, now in the collection of the Earl of Radnor at Longford Castle, Wiltshire; six chairs bear the initials `TT' (L.Wood, The Upholstered Furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2008, pp. 255 - 257. Ten chairs in the celebrated scarlet-japanned suite supplied by Grendey to the Duke of Infantado for the Palace of Lazcano circa 1730 bore the same stamp, eight side chairs (including three stamped) were sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 2 February 1980, lot 215 (for further information on this commission see C. Gilbert, ‘Furniture by Giles Grendey for the Spanish Trade’, The Antiques Magazine, April 1971, pp. 544 - 550).
A single chair with the same journeyman's stamp - ‘TT’, was sold from the Property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Christie’s, New York, 27 October 2015, lot 34 ($72,500, including premium) and an armchair, probably supplied to John Stirling, 11th of Keir; sold Christie’s, New York, 17 October 2008, lot 56 ($134,500, including premium).
THE PROVENANCE
The chairs were in the important collection of Sir John Ramsden, 6th Bt. (1877-1958), published in Country Life in 1927 and sold at Christie's in 1930. The Ramsden family had been large landowners in South Yorkshire for several centuries, particularly in Huddersfield, their oldest seat was Byram Hall, at Ferrybridge, near Wakefield, a house that was extensively remodelled in the 1770s by John Carr of York with interior decoration by Robert Adam in 1780. Sir John’s collection at Bulstrode Park was a composite one, formed from pieces taken from Byram (following its sale in 1922) and pieces Sir John bought himself between 1917-1922. Interestingly, the Country Life article stated that there was no pre-existing collection at Bulstrode which rules out an earlier Bentinck or Seymour provenance (the families who had originally owned the estate).
One family relationship which suggests a tantalizing earlier provenance and attribution is the marriage of Sir William Ramsden, 2nd Bt. (1672-1736) to The Hon. Elizabeth Lowther in 1695. Sir William and Lady Elizabeth’s daughter was also married to a Lowther, putting the family firmly in the Lowther’s sphere of influence well into the mid to late eighteenth century. A pair of walnut armchairs attributed to Giles Grendey and with similar journeyman stamps, supplied to Lowther Castle, suggesting a fruitful relationship between the Lowther family and Grendey’s workshop. The chairs were sold Property of a Lady, Christie’s, London, 9 July 1931, lot 113. The Lowther family, under James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1736-1802), who inherited the estates in 1745, undertook a huge renovation of all his residences, they commissioned furniture from other leading makers of the time, including a set of seat furniture, attributed to Paul Saunders (see Christie’s, London, 16 May 1912, lot 127, a set of four, and Christie’s, New York, 18 October 2017, lot 578), and engaged Robert Adam at Lowther Castle and Whitehaven Castle.
These chairs with their intriguing eagles' head terminals were clearly treasured by the Ramsden family as at least one further chair was made circa 1900, a direct copy of the present lot. The copy was sold from Ramsden's collection in these rooms 23 May 1932, lot 67 (as ‘Queen Anne’) and was sold again from the Collection of Dr and Mrs Francis D. Dowler Christie’s, New York, 18-19 April 2012, lot 200 ($6,250, including premium).
THE ‘JOURNEYMAN’
Many chairs from Grendey's workshop bear his journeymen's stamps, thought to be the initials of individual chair-makers employed by Grendey (see C. Gilbert and G. Beard, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986 p. 372). One of the recorded initial stamps is 'TT' .
Lucy Wood has identified the same stamp on the set of twelve chairs almost certainly supplied by Grendey between 1734 - 40 to Sir Jacob de Bouverie, now in the collection of the Earl of Radnor at Longford Castle, Wiltshire; six chairs bear the initials `TT' (L.Wood, The Upholstered Furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2008, pp. 255 - 257. Ten chairs in the celebrated scarlet-japanned suite supplied by Grendey to the Duke of Infantado for the Palace of Lazcano circa 1730 bore the same stamp, eight side chairs (including three stamped) were sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 2 February 1980, lot 215 (for further information on this commission see C. Gilbert, ‘Furniture by Giles Grendey for the Spanish Trade’, The Antiques Magazine, April 1971, pp. 544 - 550).
A single chair with the same journeyman's stamp - ‘TT’, was sold from the Property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Christie’s, New York, 27 October 2015, lot 34 ($72,500, including premium) and an armchair, probably supplied to John Stirling, 11th of Keir; sold Christie’s, New York, 17 October 2008, lot 56 ($134,500, including premium).
THE PROVENANCE
The chairs were in the important collection of Sir John Ramsden, 6th Bt. (1877-1958), published in Country Life in 1927 and sold at Christie's in 1930. The Ramsden family had been large landowners in South Yorkshire for several centuries, particularly in Huddersfield, their oldest seat was Byram Hall, at Ferrybridge, near Wakefield, a house that was extensively remodelled in the 1770s by John Carr of York with interior decoration by Robert Adam in 1780. Sir John’s collection at Bulstrode Park was a composite one, formed from pieces taken from Byram (following its sale in 1922) and pieces Sir John bought himself between 1917-1922. Interestingly, the Country Life article stated that there was no pre-existing collection at Bulstrode which rules out an earlier Bentinck or Seymour provenance (the families who had originally owned the estate).
One family relationship which suggests a tantalizing earlier provenance and attribution is the marriage of Sir William Ramsden, 2nd Bt. (1672-1736) to The Hon. Elizabeth Lowther in 1695. Sir William and Lady Elizabeth’s daughter was also married to a Lowther, putting the family firmly in the Lowther’s sphere of influence well into the mid to late eighteenth century. A pair of walnut armchairs attributed to Giles Grendey and with similar journeyman stamps, supplied to Lowther Castle, suggesting a fruitful relationship between the Lowther family and Grendey’s workshop. The chairs were sold Property of a Lady, Christie’s, London, 9 July 1931, lot 113. The Lowther family, under James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale (1736-1802), who inherited the estates in 1745, undertook a huge renovation of all his residences, they commissioned furniture from other leading makers of the time, including a set of seat furniture, attributed to Paul Saunders (see Christie’s, London, 16 May 1912, lot 127, a set of four, and Christie’s, New York, 18 October 2017, lot 578), and engaged Robert Adam at Lowther Castle and Whitehaven Castle.
These chairs with their intriguing eagles' head terminals were clearly treasured by the Ramsden family as at least one further chair was made circa 1900, a direct copy of the present lot. The copy was sold from Ramsden's collection in these rooms 23 May 1932, lot 67 (as ‘Queen Anne’) and was sold again from the Collection of Dr and Mrs Francis D. Dowler Christie’s, New York, 18-19 April 2012, lot 200 ($6,250, including premium).