This library armchair is from the set of ten chairs supplied to the Hon. George Shirley (1705-1787), for Ettington Park, Warwickshire. Shirley was the eldest son from the second marriage of the 1st Earl Ferrers (1650-1717) from whom he inherited the estate. The chairs can almost certainly 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). The set was sold in the 1946 house sale at Ettington Park and subsequently pairs of chairs were sold again (from the same collection at the present lot) Christie's, London, 4 July 2002, lot 20 (£259,650 including premium) and 10 July 2003, lot 120 (£218,050 including premium).

GILES GRENDEY

The chairs can be firmly attributed to the Clerkenwell workshop of Giles Grendey on both stylistic grounds and by the presence of the journeyman's stamp 'WF'.
They relate closely to a set of chairs bearing Grendey's label from Gunton Park, Norfolk, differing only in the form of the foot and in the presence of the flowerhead at the base of the arm (see C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700- 1840, London, 1996, p.243, fig.437). Another chair nearly identical to the present lot was in the celebrated collection of Percival D. Griffiths at Sandridgebury, Hertfordshire (illustrated in R. W. Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II, London, 1929, p.155, fig.102) which was sold as part of the Griffiths sale, Christie's, London, 11 May, 1939, lot 285 (£210), and again 7 April, 1983, lot 155 (£11,340 including premium).

Giles Grendey (d.1780), cabinet-maker of St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, London ran a substantial business from 1726, when he took on his first apprentices, until at least the late 1760s, following his appointment as Master of the Joiners' Company in 1766. Described at the time of his wife's death as a 'great Dealer in the Cabinet way', in 1755 at the time of his daughter's marriage to the Royal cabinet-maker John Cobb he was called an 'eminent Timber Merchant'. While few payments to him have been traced in country house archives, he supplied a good number of walnut and mahogany pieces to aristocratic houses including Longford Castle, Stourhead and Barn Elms. He was also heavily involved in the timber and export business. In fact, Grendey is probably best known for the extensive suite of scarlet-japanned furniture he executed for the Duke of Infantado's castle at Lazcano, Spain, whilst recently discovered labelled mirrors in Norway also indicate that Grendey exported goods to Scandinavia.

A common feature among furniture associated with Giles Grendey's workshop is the presence of stamped initials, presumably those of the journeyman cabinet or chair-maker. While none of these workmen have been conclusively identified thus far, in several cases the initials seem to correspond to apprentices taken on by Grendey from the late 1720s onwards. Some of the Ettington chairs are recorded as being stamped with the initials 'WH', almost certainly for the journeyman chair-maker William House who was apprenticed to Grendey on 24 February 1746/7 (see L. Wood, The Upholstered Furniture in The Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2008, vol. I, p. 278). A further set of chairs attributed to Grendey and like the present lot bearing the stamp 'WF' were almost certainly supplied to John, 1st Earl Poulett (d.1743) for Hinton House, Somerset (see E. Lennox-Boyd [ed.], Masterpieces of English Furniture The Gerstenfeld Collection, London, 1998, pp. 2-3, pp.110-111 and pl.85, and p.208, fig.34). A pair of chairs of the same pattern as those offered here, one stamped 'WF' and presumably also from the Ettington suite was sold anonymously Christie's, London, 23 May 2012, lot 279 (£133,250).