Lot Essay
The trade card of the London firm of Landall and Gordon of circa 1750 shows an exotic side chair with naturalistic carving, but still of the same basic form where the vase-shaped splat is linked to the stiles by solid pieces (Sir A. Heal, The London Furniture Makers, London, 1953, p. 93). The present chair is very similar in design to a set of six in the Carnegie Museum of Art, U.S.A., by the celebrated Clerkenwell cabinet-maker and upholsterer Giles Grendey (d. 1780), two of which carry labels 'GILES GRENDEY, In St. John's-Square, Clerkenwell, LONDON, Makes and Sells all Sorts of Cabinet- Goods, Chairs and Glasses.' (illustrated in C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p. 242, fig. 434). A further labelled suite of very similar seat-furniture by Giles Grendey and formerly in the collection of the late J. S. Phipps, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 21 November 1981, lots 233-235. The Carnegie and Phipps chairs differ in that they have paterae and scrolling foliage carved on the upper part of the splat, and the shell moulding on the toprail has a straight top. Interestingly, one of the Carnegie chairs is stamped 'IC' on the seat-rail and two of the Phipps chairs 'IC' and 'ID', presumably for individual chair-makers in the Grendey workshop. The present lot is stamped 'IL' which would further point to a Grendey attribution.
This chair appears to belong to a group. An almost identical chair, except for a straight top to the shell moulding on the toprail, is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed., 1954, vol. I, p. 257, fig. 95. A very similar one, again with a straight-topped shell moulding, is illustrated in C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, London, 1978, p. 74, fig. 56 and another similar one, with straight-topped shell moulding and lacking the foliage carving at the base of the splat, from Stratfield Saye, is illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Walnut, London, 1908, p.206, fig. 192. Further very similar chairs were sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 18 May 1961, lot 57 and 21 May 1970, lot 96 and a pair was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 8 March 1985, lot 54.
This chair appears to belong to a group. An almost identical chair, except for a straight top to the shell moulding on the toprail, is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed., 1954, vol. I, p. 257, fig. 95. A very similar one, again with a straight-topped shell moulding, is illustrated in C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, London, 1978, p. 74, fig. 56 and another similar one, with straight-topped shell moulding and lacking the foliage carving at the base of the splat, from Stratfield Saye, is illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Walnut, London, 1908, p.206, fig. 192. Further very similar chairs were sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 18 May 1961, lot 57 and 21 May 1970, lot 96 and a pair was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 8 March 1985, lot 54.