Giles Grendey,
Cabinetmaker, London, England, 1693-1780
Giles
Grendey, born in Gloucestershire in 1693, came to London at the age
of sixteen, as an apprentice to William Sherborne,
a
second-generation joiner. He became a freeman of the Joiners'
Company in 1716.
His first commission was for Richard Hoare of Barn
Elmes. By 1726 he was taking on apprentices.
He is described as a
“Cabinet-Maker and Chair-Maker”, and 1740 as “A great Dealer
in the Cabinet Way”.
He carried out a considerable export trade
from Aylesbury House in St. John's Square, Clerkenwell.
He was
appointed Upper Warden of the Joiner's Company in 1747 and its
Master in 1766.
His son-in-law, John Cobb, was granted a court
appointment as cabinet-maker to George III.
Records of Grendey's export business have never been doubted
:
a fire that badly damaged his workshop in 1731 also destroyed
furniture to the value of £1,000,
that he “had pack”d for
Exportation against the next Morning”.
It is a tantalizing
possibility that the destroyed export furniture was intended for
Spain
and that the existing Lazcano suite is in fact its
replacement.
Labeled examples and documented commissions have led to further
attributions
as they reveal design traits that reoccur on much of
Grendey's work.
Elements from other known Grendey chairs serving as
bases for attribution of this chair include the dating,
the strength
and stance of the 4 cabriole legs,
the vertically pierced back
splat, and the quality and nature of the carving. |