An unusual pair of early 18th century chairs, attributed to Giles Grendey.

England, circa 1735.

Why we like them 

An incredibly rare and good looking model. No decoration interferes with its sleek, minimalist design; its almost sculptural quality of the back and legs lends this model an immense lightness and elegance. Unusually broad scale too.

Attribution

The present chairs can be attributed to the Clerkenwell Cabinet maker Giles Grendey (d.1780) whose label appears on a closely 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 (virtually identical to our chairs save for the decoration of the seat-rails and back splats ending in a scroll), and Christie's, New York, 17 November 1985, lot 65. Another similar set of chairs, attributed to Giles Grendey, see Bonhams London, 2 March 2011, lot 83. A further related set of chairs, with backs identical to the present examples and plain square-cut legs, most likely from the same workshop, given their stylistic and constructional similarities, was sold from the collection of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Christie's London, 21 March 2015, lot 1156.

An identical chair appears on a circa 1913 photograph taken in the library at Shardeloes, then the seat of the Tyrwhitt-Drake family.

The present chairs 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 their 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 pair. This simple form also appears on a serving table, bearing a trade label of Giles Grendey, see Bonhams London, 19 October 2016, lot 188.