Lot Essay
There are plugged holes for handles at the top of the sides and an escutcheon hole behind the lock (not visible from the front). These suggest that the top section has been changed, at least in use. However, the combination of the shaped panels with this carved leg, both of them proven Grendey patterns, suggests that the alterations happened in the 18th Century at the time of making and in Grendey's workshop.
The richly carved china-cabinet, designed in the George II 'picturesque' manner, has serpentine-panelled glazing in the doors and flowered ribbon-guilloches incised at the corners. The same features appear on a mirrored cabinet bearing the label of Giles Grendey (d. 1780) of Clerkenwell, who was described in 1740 as 'a great dealer in the cabinet way' (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, p. 240, fig. 432).
The serpentine legs of the frame, carved with flowers in husk-festooned and scalloped cartouches and terminating in acanthus-enriched scrolls, correspond to those of a suite of seat furniture from Gunton Park, Norfolk bearing his label (ibid., p. 243, fig. 437). The Gunton Park chairs are likely to have been supplied to Sir William Harbord (d.1770) soon after his inheritance in 1742.
Grendey was also celebrated in his day as an exporter of furniture to various countries, including Sweden and Norway (for example, ibid., p. 246, fig. 446). His export trade was very unusual among his contemporaries and it is tantalising that a cabinet made by him, one of the few makers capable of exporting to Russia, should have acquired the reputed provenance of a 'Tsar's Palace'.
The richly carved china-cabinet, designed in the George II 'picturesque' manner, has serpentine-panelled glazing in the doors and flowered ribbon-guilloches incised at the corners. The same features appear on a mirrored cabinet bearing the label of Giles Grendey (d. 1780) of Clerkenwell, who was described in 1740 as 'a great dealer in the cabinet way' (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, p. 240, fig. 432).
The serpentine legs of the frame, carved with flowers in husk-festooned and scalloped cartouches and terminating in acanthus-enriched scrolls, correspond to those of a suite of seat furniture from Gunton Park, Norfolk bearing his label (ibid., p. 243, fig. 437). The Gunton Park chairs are likely to have been supplied to Sir William Harbord (d.1770) soon after his inheritance in 1742.
Grendey was also celebrated in his day as an exporter of furniture to various countries, including Sweden and Norway (for example, ibid., p. 246, fig. 446). His export trade was very unusual among his contemporaries and it is tantalising that a cabinet made by him, one of the few makers capable of exporting to Russia, should have acquired the reputed provenance of a 'Tsar's Palace'.