A PAIR OF GEORGE II WALNUT CHAIRS 

A fine pair of George II walnut side chairs in the manner of Giles Grendey, the curved splat backs with burr walnut veneers of very fine rich colour, carved with scrolls and acanthus and flanked by shaped side rails, the top centred by a shell carved cresting, the compass drop-in seats covered in period gros and petit point needlework, raised on boldly carved cabriole front legs with a carved shell at each knee and ending in claw and ball feet, the back legs of curved and tapering form.

These chairs relate very closely to a set by Giles Grendey, and retaining his label, sold at Sotheby’s New York on November 21, 1981 ( lots 233-235). Several others exist, including a single example at Temple Newsam House, illustrated by Christopher Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, 1987, vol.1 p.74, cat no 56. Another is illustrated by Edwards and Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture 1954 vol. 1, p. 257. Further examples, retaining Grendey’s label, are now in the Carnegie Museum of Art and illustrated in C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, 1996, p. 242. Another, almost identical chair to the Mallett pair, from the collection of the Duchess of Wellington is illustrated in Percy Macquoid’s The Age of Walnut, 1905 P.206. And a further pair were offered by Sotheby’s in New York, 26 October 2002, (estimated $180,000 to $220,000).

CONDITION REPORT ON REQUEST.