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Lot Essay
These richly-japanned chairs are conceived in a similar manner to the renowned set of over 70 pieces of japanned furniture purchased from the Clerkenwell cabinet-maker Giles Grendey, by the Duque de Mendoza-Infantado in about 1738 for his castle at Lazcano, northern Spain. While the Lazcano set was executed in scarlet japanning, which appealed to the Spanish love of exuberant decoration, the shape of the chairs, derived from a Queen Anne model popular in Spain, employs the same use of stretchers and caned seat, physical features of native Spanish chairs of this date: the stretchers being used to strengthen the beech frames (C. Gilbert, 'Furniture by Giles Grendey for the Spanish Trade', Antiques, XCIX, 1971, pp. 544-50).
Many chairs labelled or attributed to Grendey bear the branded initials of Grendey's apprentices, which is lacking on the current set. The initials 'IC' appear on a pair of chairs sold from the collection of the late J.S. Phipps, Sotheby's, New York, 20-21 November 1981, lot 233.
A related pair with shell-carved cresting and shaped front stretcher was sold from The Prescott Collection, Christie's New York, 31 January 1981, lot 349 while a set of six, possibly from the same set, is illustrated in Partridge Summer Exhibition, 1988, no. 10, pp. 30-32.
Many chairs labelled or attributed to Grendey bear the branded initials of Grendey's apprentices, which is lacking on the current set. The initials 'IC' appear on a pair of chairs sold from the collection of the late J.S. Phipps, Sotheby's, New York, 20-21 November 1981, lot 233.
A related pair with shell-carved cresting and shaped front stretcher was sold from The Prescott Collection, Christie's New York, 31 January 1981, lot 349 while a set of six, possibly from the same set, is illustrated in Partridge Summer Exhibition, 1988, no. 10, pp. 30-32.