Lot 20: A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY LIBRARY ARMCHAIRS

By Giles Grendey, the craftsman probably William House Each with padded rectangular back and seat covered in vert-de-mer velvet, with slightly outcurved arms and downswept supports carved with foliage, on cabriole legs headed by interlaced foliage above husk trails, on hairy paw feet with countersunk leather castors, one side rail replaced in oak, the tip of one arm-terminal possibly replaced, both chairs stamped 'WH' on each back leg (2) PROVENANCE By descent since the 1930s. LITERATURE FOR CHAIRS OF THIS MODEL: H. Cescinsky, English Furniture of the 18th Century, n.d. [1911], p. 86, fig. 32 (with apparently uncarved back legs). H. Cescinsky, 'The Collection of the Hon. Sir John H. Ward, K.C.V.O.', Connoisseur, March 1921, p. 142, fig. 5 R.W. Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II, London, 1929, p. 155, fig. 102. NOTES This chair is of the same model as a celebrated example from the collection of Percival D. Griffiths at Sandridgebury, Hertfordshire, (Symonds, loc. cit. ). The latter chair was part of the Griffiths sale, in these Rooms, 11 May 1939, lot 285 and again 7 April 1983, lot 155. This armchair can be firmly attributed to the Clerkenwell workshop of Giles Grendey, who lived for an astonishingly long time - 1693-1780. The attribution of the present pair to Grendey is primarily based on a labelled set from Gunton Park, Norfolk, and which differs only in having scrolled rather than paw feet (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, London, 1996, p. 243, fig. 437). The attribution to Grendey's workshop is strengthened by the presence of the stamp of 'WH', very probably for William House, employed by Grendey from 14 April 1747 (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, eds., Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, pp. 371-2). A number of chairs from Grendey's workshop bear the stamp of his journeymen. A pair of side chairs of a known Grendey model also stamped 'WH' were sold Christie's New York, 9 October 1993, lot 354. An armchair of precisely the same model as the present pair, and also stamped 'WH' was sold Christie's New York, 13 April 2000, lot 188 ($95,000). CHAIRS OF THIS MODEL It is impossible to be certain whether all the chairs of this model had flowerheads on the bottom arm-support terminals, as well as the upper. Some retain the lower flowerheads but others are upholstered over and may have originally had them. Other examples of library chairs include: 1. The Percival Griffiths chair, referred to above, and illustrated in Symonds, loc.cit. 2. The Ward chair illustrated in Cescinsky, Connoisseur, loc. cit. 3. A pair in the collection of Henry Hirsch Esq., sold in these Rooms, 22 March 1934, lot 84. 4. One illustrated in Cescinsky, Eighteenth Century, loc. cit, 5. A pair from the collection of Henry Nyburg, Esq., sold Sotheby's London, 2 December 1966, lot 154. 6. A pair, previously with Partridge, sold Sotheby's New York, 29 October 1988, lot 382 ($220,000). 7. A pair sold Christie's New York, 27 January 1990, lot 105 ($264,000). 8. A single chair sold Christie's New York, 13 April 2000, lot 188 ($110,500) 9. A chair from the collection of Dr Frank Crozer Knowles, upholstered very similarly to Griffiths's chair (no. 1 above), and possibly once associated with it, sold Christie's New York, 22 October 1988, lot 234, and resold Christie's New York, 18 October 2001, lot 232 ($70,500). PROVENANCE: These chairs are almost certainly part of a set sold by the Executors of the late Col. E.C. Shirley, Ettington Park, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire; Knight, Frank and Rutley house sale, 29-31 October 1946, lot 103 (illustrated). They would have been supplied to the builder of the 18th century house at Ettington, the Hon. George Shirley, (1705-1785). Part of the set can probably be identified with the '8 Elbow Chairs with Carved Legs & claws in crimson velvet' listed in the Drawing Room in the 1882 probate inventory of E.P. Shirley Esq (Warwickshire RO).