Untitled
possibly Giles Grendey (1693 - 1780)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1740
Materials
Giltwood, beech, textile, brass studs
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
NT 108625
Summary
A set of eight pieces of gilt walnut and upholstered seat furniture, consisting of a pair of sofas and six side chairs, possibly by Giles Grendey, London (1693 - 1780), circa 1740. One sofa of slightly later date probably circa 1760.The sofas with rectangular backs and over-stuffed seats with C scroll arms and raised on ribbon and floral scroll carved cabriole legs and lion's paw feet. The side chairs with rectangular backs and overstuffed seats raised on conforming legs.
Full description
It is unusual to find gilded walnut seat furniture from this period and it maybe possible that the set was gilded slightly later after first being intended as a walnut set. The addition of the later sofa in circa 1760 maybe the time when this was done. It is unnecessary to carve the legs from walnut if the intention is to then gild, a cheaper alternative such as beech, deal or limewood was more common. The set share some characteristics with examples known to be by Grendey, a set of mahogany seating furniture in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum, accession no. 1983-143-1983 have a similar leg and general form. Lord Scarsdale was certainly a patron as The dictionary of British and Irish furniture makers online records in 1762 a bill of 13 January for ‘1 Fine Jamaia. Mahog. Plank …, £21.0.0. To Sawing I Cut in Do 1s. 4d, to Carrying to the Swan Inn 1s 6d, Total £1210 Receiv'd Josh. Lawes’. [Kedleston Hall archives]. Giles Grendey (1693–1780) was born in Gloucestershire in 1693 and, in 1708/9 he was apprenticed to William Sherborne in London. Grendey completed his apprenticeship in 1716 and became a freeman. By 1726 he was taking on his own apprentices and was recognised as the most accomplished English cabinetmaker incorporating ‘japanned’ decoration. Grendey’s workshop was in Aylesbury House, St. John’s Square, Clerkenwell. He labelled some of his products and one of his surviving labels advertised that he: ‘MAKES and Sells all Sorts of CABINET GOODS, Chairs, Tables, Glasses, etc.’ Newspaper accounts from 1731 indicate the status which Grendey had achieved, as it was recorded that, early in the morning on 3rd August 1731, his workshop had a fire, which destroyed furniture to the value of £1,000 which he: ‘had pack'd for Exportation against the next morning’. Fortunately, both his premises and his stock were insured, but this record underlines the importance of the export market for his business: notably in Spain (Duke of Infantado); in Italy (for the King of Naples); and in Portugal. James Weedon (May 2018)
Provenance
Curzon Collection acquired by gift as part of the transfer of Kedleston Hall to The National Trust in 1986.
Makers and roles
possibly Giles Grendey (1693 - 1780), furniture designer possibly Giles Grendey (1693 - 1780), furniture maker
References
Macquoid, Percy, d.1905. history of English furniture / 1904-1908. Dictionary of British and Irish furniture makers online (1660-1840) FHS 2017