ATTRIBUTED TO GILES GRENDEY, CIRCA 1740

The side table can be confidently attributed to Giles Grendey (d.1780) based upon the similarity of the carving of the central satyr mask and anthemion ornament on the legs to that on a suite of seat-furniture comprising a side chair, armchair and a sofa formerly in the collection of Percival D. Griffiths F.S.A. (d.1938) at Sandridgebury, Hertfordshire (R.W. Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II, 1929, p.31, fig.11 and p.33, figs. 12 and 13), the side chair sold The Gothick Pavilion: Byron to Beaton, Christies London, 9 December 2010, lot 29 (£13,750 incl' premium). It bore the journeymans stamp WH, a strong link to Grendey's workshop, where craftsmen apparently commonly (if not routinely) struck their initials on their work. This stamp is almost certainly for William House apprenticed to Grendey on 24 February 1746/7 (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, eds., Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, pp. 371-372). The same WH stamp also appears on armchairs which were at Ettington Park, Warwickshire,which were probably supplied to the Hon. George Shirley (d.1787) and are attributed to Grendey (L.Wood, The Upholstered Furniture in The Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2008, vol.I, p.278, a pair sold most recently at Christie's, London, 23 May 2012, lot 279, £133,250 incl' premium). The table offered here was in a family collection sold Christie's, London, 31 October 2012, lot 80 (£139,250 incl' premium).

Grendey, cabinet-maker of St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, ran a substantial business from 1726 when he took on his first apprentices until at least the late 1760s; in 1766 he was appointed Master of the Joiners' Company. Described at his wife's death as a 'great Dealer in the Cabinet way', in 1755 at the time of his daughter's marriage to the Royal cabinet-maker, John Cobb (d.1778), he was referred to as an 'eminent Timber Merchant'. While few payments to him have been traced in country house archives, he supplied a good number of walnut and mahogany pieces to aristocratic houses including Longford Castle, Stourhead and Barn Elms; he was also very involved in the timber and export business. Grendey is probably best known for the extensive suite of scarlet-japanned furniture he executed for the Duke of Infantado's castle at Lazcano, Spain, whilst recently discovered labeled mirrors in Norway also indicate that Grendey exported goods to Scandinavia.