CIRCA 1730, IN THE MANNER OF GILES GRENDEY

This sumptuous secretaire-cabinet, which is thought to have been bought in Spain by David Style, shares much in common with the Export furniture executed by the Clerkenwell cabinet-maker Giles Grendey (d. 1780). Grendey's fame in large part lies with the group of approximately eighty pieces of 'India japanned' furniture now known as the 'Infantado Suite'. The 'Infantado' suite was delivered to Spain, almost certainly to either Don Juan de Dios de Silva-Mendoza-Sandoval, 10th Duque del Infantado (1672-1737), or his daughter, Doña María Francisca de Silva-Mendoza-Sandozal y Gutiérrez de los Ríos, 11th Duquesa del Infantado (1707-1770). The suite passed by descent with the Dukes of Infantado to Don Joaquín de Arteaga y Echagüe Silva y Méndez de Vigo (1870-1947), 17th Duque del Infantado, whose father, as Marquess of Valmediano, inherited the Dukedom of Infantado in 1891 after the intercession of the King, bringing the title and, presumably, possessions to their Castle at Lazcano, Guipzcoa, Northern Spain. It was from Lazcano Castle, in 1930, that seventy-two pieces of the suite were bought by Adolph Loewi, a Venetian dealer. Although now widely dispersed, much of the suite can be seen in an interior photograph of Lazcano Castle, showing not only seat-furniture but also pairs of bureau-cabinets and a pair of secretaire-cabinets of this basic form.