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An George II walnut and parcel-gilt bureau cabinet, attributed to Giles Grendey, circa 1740
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Description
Property from a Private English Collection
An George II walnut and parcel-gilt bureau cabinet, attributed to Giles Grendey, circa 1740
the upper section with a broken pediment cornice centred by a gilt-gesso cartouche, above two doors with later shaped mirrors with a giltwood border opening onto two adjustable shelves and a fixed lower shelf fitted with pigeonholes and short drawers, above two candle slides, the lower section with a feather-banded writing slope opening onto an arrangement of drawers, pigeonholes and a central cupboard with a giltwood-bordered mirror flanked by pilasters with giltwood capitals that slide to reveal narrow document drawers, above lopers and four graduated drawers, on moulded bracket feet, the metalwork replaced
236cm. high, 111.8cm. wide, 62cm. deep;
7ft. 9 in., 3ft. 8 in., 2ft. 1/3in.
Provenance
Stair & Company Inc., New York City, 1st January 1963
Sotheby's London, Important English Furniture, Ceramics and Silver from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Martin Gersh, 18th October 2006, lot 36
Catalogue note
Giles Grendey (1693–1780) was a significant cabinetmaker in the George I and George II style, supplying chairs and case furniture richly veneered in walnut or with gilt red japanning to international as well as domestic clients. An important piece of documentation about Grendey’s workshop follows a major fire in 1731: fortunately his stock was insured, because he is recorded as a “Cabinet-Maker and Chairmaker” who had lost a fine chair that was “design’d as a Present to a German Prince” and £1,000 worth of stock that was “pack’d for Exportation against the Next Morning”. Grendey had particular links to Spain and Portugal, including a major commission of 72 pieces of lacquered furniture for the Duke of Infantado’s palace at Lazcano.1
The attribution of this bureau cabinet to Grendey rests on its close similarity to several pieces also attributed to Grendey, often including his trade label. Grendey only added labels to a “fraction of his output”, with a logic that “remain[s] obscure”,2 but a trade label remains on a japanned example from the Lazcano suite that has a similar profile, broken pediment and shaped mirror plates to the present lot.3 A bureau cabinet of this model from the Lazcano suite also sold at Sotheby’s 14th December 2021, lot 41. Double-serpentine shaped mirror plates are characteristic of Grendey’s bureaux cabinets but with variation between models: a bureau cabinet with identically-shaped mirror plates and closely similar overall form to the present lot was the cover lot for the sale at Sotheby’s New York, 21st January 1984, lot 93, while a cabinet of slightly different overall form but also with identically-shaped mirror plates to the present lot has a label for Grendey and is illustrated in Christopher Gilbert’s Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture.4 Generally, the points of departure between Grendey-attributed models are the surface (since some are japaneed and some veneered in walnut) and the smaller details like the feet and the cartouche enclosed by the broken pediment: for instance, the bureau cabinet sold at Sotheby’s on 7th July 1995, lot 37 is attributed to Grendey and shares the form and shaped mirror plates with the present lot, but has bun feet and a rocaille-carved cartouche.
1 As described in Christopher Gilbert, ‘Furniture by Giles Grendey for the Spanish trade’, The Magazine Antiques, April 1971, pp.544-550.
2 Christopher Gilbert, ‘English furniture makers and their marks’, The Antique Dealer & Collectors’ Guide, January 1971, p.67.
3 Pictured in Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700–1840, Leeds, 1996, p.247, fig.447, and also in Ralph Edward and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1944, p.107, fig.43.
4 Gilbert, op. cit., p.240, fig.432.
Additional Notices & Disclaimers
Please note that Condition 12 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.
An George II walnut and parcel-gilt bureau cabinet, attributed to Giles Grendey, circa 1740
the upper section with a broken pediment cornice centred by a gilt-gesso cartouche, above two doors with later shaped mirrors with a giltwood border opening onto two adjustable shelves and a fixed lower shelf fitted with pigeonholes and short drawers, above two candle slides, the lower section with a feather-banded writing slope opening onto an arrangement of drawers, pigeonholes and a central cupboard with a giltwood-bordered mirror flanked by pilasters with giltwood capitals that slide to reveal narrow document drawers, above lopers and four graduated drawers, on moulded bracket feet, the metalwork replaced
236cm. high, 111.8cm. wide, 62cm. deep;
7ft. 9 in., 3ft. 8 in., 2ft. 1/3in.
Provenance
Stair & Company Inc., New York City, 1st January 1963
Sotheby's London, Important English Furniture, Ceramics and Silver from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Martin Gersh, 18th October 2006, lot 36
Catalogue note
Giles Grendey (1693–1780) was a significant cabinetmaker in the George I and George II style, supplying chairs and case furniture richly veneered in walnut or with gilt red japanning to international as well as domestic clients. An important piece of documentation about Grendey’s workshop follows a major fire in 1731: fortunately his stock was insured, because he is recorded as a “Cabinet-Maker and Chairmaker” who had lost a fine chair that was “design’d as a Present to a German Prince” and £1,000 worth of stock that was “pack’d for Exportation against the Next Morning”. Grendey had particular links to Spain and Portugal, including a major commission of 72 pieces of lacquered furniture for the Duke of Infantado’s palace at Lazcano.1
The attribution of this bureau cabinet to Grendey rests on its close similarity to several pieces also attributed to Grendey, often including his trade label. Grendey only added labels to a “fraction of his output”, with a logic that “remain[s] obscure”,2 but a trade label remains on a japanned example from the Lazcano suite that has a similar profile, broken pediment and shaped mirror plates to the present lot.3 A bureau cabinet of this model from the Lazcano suite also sold at Sotheby’s 14th December 2021, lot 41. Double-serpentine shaped mirror plates are characteristic of Grendey’s bureaux cabinets but with variation between models: a bureau cabinet with identically-shaped mirror plates and closely similar overall form to the present lot was the cover lot for the sale at Sotheby’s New York, 21st January 1984, lot 93, while a cabinet of slightly different overall form but also with identically-shaped mirror plates to the present lot has a label for Grendey and is illustrated in Christopher Gilbert’s Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture.4 Generally, the points of departure between Grendey-attributed models are the surface (since some are japaneed and some veneered in walnut) and the smaller details like the feet and the cartouche enclosed by the broken pediment: for instance, the bureau cabinet sold at Sotheby’s on 7th July 1995, lot 37 is attributed to Grendey and shares the form and shaped mirror plates with the present lot, but has bun feet and a rocaille-carved cartouche.
1 As described in Christopher Gilbert, ‘Furniture by Giles Grendey for the Spanish trade’, The Magazine Antiques, April 1971, pp.544-550.
2 Christopher Gilbert, ‘English furniture makers and their marks’, The Antique Dealer & Collectors’ Guide, January 1971, p.67.
3 Pictured in Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700–1840, Leeds, 1996, p.247, fig.447, and also in Ralph Edward and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1944, p.107, fig.43.
4 Gilbert, op. cit., p.240, fig.432.
Additional Notices & Disclaimers
Please note that Condition 12 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.
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Property from a Private English Collection
An George II walnut and parcel-gilt bureau cabinet, attributed to Giles Grendey, circa 1740
the upper section with a broken pediment cornice centred by a gilt-gesso cartouche, above two doors with later shaped mirrors with a giltwood border opening onto two adjustable shelves and a fixed lower shelf fitted with pigeonholes and short drawers, above two candle slides, the lower section with a feather-banded writing slope opening onto an arrangement of drawers, pigeonholes and a central cupboard with a giltwood-bordered mirror flanked by pilasters with giltwood capitals that slide to reveal narrow document drawers, above lopers and four graduated drawers, on moulded bracket feet, the metalwork replaced
236cm. high, 111.8cm. wide, 62cm. deep;
7ft. 9 in., 3ft. 8 in., 2ft. 1/3in.
Provenance
Stair & Company Inc., New York City, 1st January 1963
Sotheby's London, Important English Furniture, Ceramics and Silver from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Martin Gersh, 18th October 2006, lot 36
Catalogue note
Giles Grendey (1693–1780) was a significant cabinetmaker in the George I and George II style, supplying chairs and case furniture richly veneered in walnut or with gilt red japanning to international as well as domestic clients. An important piece of documentation about Grendey’s workshop follows a major fire in 1731: fortunately his stock was insured, because he is recorded as a “Cabinet-Maker and Chairmaker” who had lost a fine chair that was “design’d as a Present to a German Prince” and £1,000 worth of stock that was “pack’d for Exportation against the Next Morning”. Grendey had particular links to Spain and Portugal, including a major commission of 72 pieces of lacquered furniture for the Duke of Infantado’s palace at Lazcano.1
The attribution of this bureau cabinet to Grendey rests on its close similarity to several pieces also attributed to Grendey, often including his trade label. Grendey only added labels to a “fraction of his output”, with a logic that “remain[s] obscure”,2 but a trade label remains on a japanned example from the Lazcano suite that has a similar profile, broken pediment and shaped mirror plates to the present lot.3 A bureau cabinet of this model from the Lazcano suite also sold at Sotheby’s 14th December 2021, lot 41. Double-serpentine shaped mirror plates are characteristic of Grendey’s bureaux cabinets but with variation between models: a bureau cabinet with identically-shaped mirror plates and closely similar overall form to the present lot was the cover lot for the sale at Sotheby’s New York, 21st January 1984, lot 93, while a cabinet of slightly different overall form but also with identically-shaped mirror plates to the present lot has a label for Grendey and is illustrated in Christopher Gilbert’s Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture.4 Generally, the points of departure between Grendey-attributed models are the surface (since some are japaneed and some veneered in walnut) and the smaller details like the feet and the cartouche enclosed by the broken pediment: for instance, the bureau cabinet sold at Sotheby’s on 7th July 1995, lot 37 is attributed to Grendey and shares the form and shaped mirror plates with the present lot, but has bun feet and a rocaille-carved cartouche.
1 As described in Christopher Gilbert, ‘Furniture by Giles Grendey for the Spanish trade’, The Magazine Antiques, April 1971, pp.544-550.
2 Christopher Gilbert, ‘English furniture makers and their marks’, The Antique Dealer & Collectors’ Guide, January 1971, p.67.
3 Pictured in Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700–1840, Leeds, 1996, p.247, fig.447, and also in Ralph Edward and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1944, p.107, fig.43.
4 Gilbert, op. cit., p.240, fig.432.
Additional Notices & Disclaimers
Please note that Condition 12 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.
An George II walnut and parcel-gilt bureau cabinet, attributed to Giles Grendey, circa 1740
the upper section with a broken pediment cornice centred by a gilt-gesso cartouche, above two doors with later shaped mirrors with a giltwood border opening onto two adjustable shelves and a fixed lower shelf fitted with pigeonholes and short drawers, above two candle slides, the lower section with a feather-banded writing slope opening onto an arrangement of drawers, pigeonholes and a central cupboard with a giltwood-bordered mirror flanked by pilasters with giltwood capitals that slide to reveal narrow document drawers, above lopers and four graduated drawers, on moulded bracket feet, the metalwork replaced
236cm. high, 111.8cm. wide, 62cm. deep;
7ft. 9 in., 3ft. 8 in., 2ft. 1/3in.
Provenance
Stair & Company Inc., New York City, 1st January 1963
Sotheby's London, Important English Furniture, Ceramics and Silver from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Martin Gersh, 18th October 2006, lot 36
Catalogue note
Giles Grendey (1693–1780) was a significant cabinetmaker in the George I and George II style, supplying chairs and case furniture richly veneered in walnut or with gilt red japanning to international as well as domestic clients. An important piece of documentation about Grendey’s workshop follows a major fire in 1731: fortunately his stock was insured, because he is recorded as a “Cabinet-Maker and Chairmaker” who had lost a fine chair that was “design’d as a Present to a German Prince” and £1,000 worth of stock that was “pack’d for Exportation against the Next Morning”. Grendey had particular links to Spain and Portugal, including a major commission of 72 pieces of lacquered furniture for the Duke of Infantado’s palace at Lazcano.1
The attribution of this bureau cabinet to Grendey rests on its close similarity to several pieces also attributed to Grendey, often including his trade label. Grendey only added labels to a “fraction of his output”, with a logic that “remain[s] obscure”,2 but a trade label remains on a japanned example from the Lazcano suite that has a similar profile, broken pediment and shaped mirror plates to the present lot.3 A bureau cabinet of this model from the Lazcano suite also sold at Sotheby’s 14th December 2021, lot 41. Double-serpentine shaped mirror plates are characteristic of Grendey’s bureaux cabinets but with variation between models: a bureau cabinet with identically-shaped mirror plates and closely similar overall form to the present lot was the cover lot for the sale at Sotheby’s New York, 21st January 1984, lot 93, while a cabinet of slightly different overall form but also with identically-shaped mirror plates to the present lot has a label for Grendey and is illustrated in Christopher Gilbert’s Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture.4 Generally, the points of departure between Grendey-attributed models are the surface (since some are japaneed and some veneered in walnut) and the smaller details like the feet and the cartouche enclosed by the broken pediment: for instance, the bureau cabinet sold at Sotheby’s on 7th July 1995, lot 37 is attributed to Grendey and shares the form and shaped mirror plates with the present lot, but has bun feet and a rocaille-carved cartouche.
1 As described in Christopher Gilbert, ‘Furniture by Giles Grendey for the Spanish trade’, The Magazine Antiques, April 1971, pp.544-550.
2 Christopher Gilbert, ‘English furniture makers and their marks’, The Antique Dealer & Collectors’ Guide, January 1971, p.67.
3 Pictured in Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700–1840, Leeds, 1996, p.247, fig.447, and also in Ralph Edward and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1944, p.107, fig.43.
4 Gilbert, op. cit., p.240, fig.432.
Additional Notices & Disclaimers
Please note that Condition 12 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.
Classic Design: Furniture, Clocks, Silver & Ceramics
Sale Date(s)
Venue Address
34-35 New Bond Street
London
W1A 2AA
United Kingdom
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