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Lot Essay
Giles Grendey (d.1780), is among a handful of eighteenth century English cabinet-makers revered by collectors today. He ran a substantial workshop in St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, London from around 1726, when he took on his first apprentices, until at least the late 1760s, following his appointment as Master of the Joiners' Company in 1766. Contemporary newspaper citations describe him as a 'great Dealer in the Cabinet way' (1740) as well as an 'eminent Timber Merchant' (1755 on the occasion of his daughter's marriage to the cabinet-maker John Cobb.) While few payments to Grendey have been traced in country house archives, he supplied a good number of intrinsic walnut and mahogany pieces to aristocratic houses including Longford Castle, Stourhead and Barn Elms. Although Grendey was also very involved in the timber and export business, he is probably best known for the extensive suite of scarlet-japanned furniture he executed for the Duke of Infantado's castle at Lazcano, Spain. Grendey's exported goods reached as far as Scandanavia, as some labeled mirrors have recently been discovered in Norway.
Labelled examples and documented commissions have led to further attributions as they reveal design traits that reoccur on much of Grendey's work. The characteristic hipped front legs with dimpled shell and pendant husk and pearls, as well as the elaborate scallop panel, are features that appear on a labeled set now at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (one from the set is illustrated in C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, pp. 31 and 32 and fig. 435). In 1931, the historian/advisor R.W. Symonds wrote that although the cabinet-maker did not label all of his work, it is in the case of these distinctly carved legs that 'one might infer that all chairs and stools with this leg came from Grendey's workshop' (see R.W. Symonds, 'More about Labelled Furniture', The Connoisseur, December 1931, p.407, fig.VIII).
The lion headed arm terminals appear on a library armchair and a double chairback settee also attributed to Grendey's workshop (P. MacQuoid, The History of English Furniture, The Age of Mahogany, New York, 1906, figs. 106 and 108).
The attribution to Grendey's workshop is supported by the presence of the initials 'RR'. Furniture associated with Grendey's workshop often bears stamped initials, presumably those of the individual cabinet or chair-maker. In several cases, the initials seem to correspond to his known apprentices. The Carnegie Museum set features the stamp of 'IC', while chairs that conform to the celebrated petal-back suite at Stourhead, Wiltshire (where Grendey was paid between 1746-1756) are stamped 'TT' (see Christie's, New York, 17 October 2008 lot 56).
Labelled examples and documented commissions have led to further attributions as they reveal design traits that reoccur on much of Grendey's work. The characteristic hipped front legs with dimpled shell and pendant husk and pearls, as well as the elaborate scallop panel, are features that appear on a labeled set now at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (one from the set is illustrated in C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, pp. 31 and 32 and fig. 435). In 1931, the historian/advisor R.W. Symonds wrote that although the cabinet-maker did not label all of his work, it is in the case of these distinctly carved legs that 'one might infer that all chairs and stools with this leg came from Grendey's workshop' (see R.W. Symonds, 'More about Labelled Furniture', The Connoisseur, December 1931, p.407, fig.VIII).
The lion headed arm terminals appear on a library armchair and a double chairback settee also attributed to Grendey's workshop (P. MacQuoid, The History of English Furniture, The Age of Mahogany, New York, 1906, figs. 106 and 108).
The attribution to Grendey's workshop is supported by the presence of the initials 'RR'. Furniture associated with Grendey's workshop often bears stamped initials, presumably those of the individual cabinet or chair-maker. In several cases, the initials seem to correspond to his known apprentices. The Carnegie Museum set features the stamp of 'IC', while chairs that conform to the celebrated petal-back suite at Stourhead, Wiltshire (where Grendey was paid between 1746-1756) are stamped 'TT' (see Christie's, New York, 17 October 2008 lot 56).