George II Side Chair, Attributed to Giles Grendey

An unusual early to mid-18th century chair, attributable to Giles Grendey.

England, circa 1735-45.

Why we like it 

A very rare and good looking model, featuring a distinctive paper-scrolled splat of the back. The carved decoration is kept to a minimum; the chair's broad scale and the sculptural quality of the back and legs lends this austere model an immense grace and elegance.

Attribution

The present chair can be compared to other known examples, linked to the Clerkenwell cabinet-maker Giles Grendey (d.1780) whose label appears on a related set of twelve chairs formerly with Christopher Gibbs Ltd and illustrated in C.Gilbert, The Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds 1996, p.242, fig.435.

These chairs belong to a group of seat furniture with such stylistic consistencies that they must have been made by the same cabinet-maker. Closely related sets were supplied to Ditchley Park and Rousham House, Oxfordshire and Lyme Park, Cheshire around 1735–45.

Nine of the Rousham House chairs were sold Christie's, New York, 20 May 2014, lot 127, and another, virtually identical set sold Christie's, London, 6 July 2000, lot 57; the Lyme Park armchairs (a pair) sold Christie's, London, 22 May  2014, lot 1092. Other comparable examples include a set sold Christie's, London, 21 April 1994, lot 256, and Christie's, New York, 17 November 1985, lot 65.

The present chair can be considered essentially a more restrained version of the Ditchley and Rousham chairs. Although not stamped, the joinery of the highest quality and the impeccably drawn form, including the idyosynchratic curved back legs, typical of the Grendey output of the 1730's–1740's, featured on labelled examples, almost certainly indicate its link to the celebrated London maker. Notably, while most of the chairs from this group feature elaborately sculpted paw or claw feet, the Lyme Park armchairs have simple and elegant round pad feet, just like the present example. This simple form also appears on a serving table, bearing a trade label of Giles Grendey, see Bonhams London, 19 October 2016, lot 188.

Condition

Original seat rails reinforced; some carved knee ears are restorations. Minor historic repairs.