ATTRIBUTED TO GILES GRENDEY, CIRCA 1735

Details

A GEORGE II SCARLET, GILT AND POLYCHROME-JAPANNED COFFER-ON-STAND
ATTRIBUTED TO GILES GRENDEY, CIRCA 1735
With a domed lid decorated with horse riders, attendants, dogs and birds, within a landscape with lush flowers and pavilions, with apparently original brass lock plate and carrying handles on each side, refreshment and strengthening to red ground, the back right bracket chalked, 'vieux mandia' underneath, the interior decorated in nashijji, with printed and inscribed Ann and Gordon Getty Collection inventory label
36 in. (91.4 cm.) high, 41 1/4 in. (104.8 cm.) wide, 23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm.) deep

Provenance

Acquired from Mallett, London, by Ann and Gordon Getty in 1983.

Special notice

Please note lots marked with a square will be moved to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn) on the last day of the sale. Lots are not available for collection at Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services until after the third business day following the sale. All lots will be stored free of charge for 30 days from the auction date at Christie’s Rockefeller Center or Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn). Operation hours for collection from either location are from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm, Monday-Friday. After 30 days from the auction date property may be moved at Christie’s discretion. Please contact Post-Sale Services to confirm the location of your property prior to collection. Lots may not be collected during the day of their move to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn). Please consult the Lot Collection Notice for collection information.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Elizabeth Seigel Vice President, Specialist, Head of Private and Iconic Collections

eseigel@christies.com +1 212 484 4812

Lot Essay

Giles Grendey (d.1780), cabinet-maker of St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, London ran a substantial business having become a freeman in 1716. He took on his own apprentices from 1726 and continued until at least the late 1760s, following his appointment as Master of the Joiners' Company in 1766. Described at the time of his wife's death in 1740 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 he was called an 'eminent Timber Merchant'. Grendey is probably best known for the extensive suite comprising around eighty pieces of scarlet-japanned furniture, such as seen in the current lot, supplied circa1740 to the Duke of Infantado's castle at Lazcano, Spain (a pair of chairs from this celebrated suite is in the Getty Collection, lot 568 in this sale), whilst recently discovered labelled mirrors in Norway also indicate that Grendey may also have exported goods to Scandinavia.

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