A PAIR OF GEORGE II WALNUT LIBRARY ARMCHAIRS BY GILES GRENDEY

English, circa 1745

The chairs retain all their original rails, but the leather castors have been replaced. Each chair is marked ‘WF’ to the underside, referring to an apprentice in Grendey’s workshop. The practice of marking with initials to distinguish between workmen is a common feature with Grendey seat furniture.

Originally part of a larger set, a suite of eight chairs was mentioned as being in the Drawing Room at Ettington Park in the probate inventory of 1882. When Ettington Park was sold in 1946, a set of ten chairs was sold from the house.

Chairs of this model, and probably from the same original set, have enriched some of the most important collections formed in the last century, including those of Percival D. Griffiths, Henry Hirsch and the Hon. Sir John Ward, KCVO.

Height: 38¼ in; 97 cm
Height of seat: 16 in; 41 cm
Width: 31½ in; 80 cm
Depth: 31¾ in; 80.5 cm

Provenance:

The Hon. George Shirley, Ettington Park, Warwickshire, England, until 1947;
Private collection, USA.

Literature:

Percy Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, vol. III, ‘The Age of Mahogany’, 1906, pp. 122-3, figs 104-5.

Herbert Cescinsky, English Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, vol. II, 1910, p. 86, fig. 82; a chair from the set.

Herbert Cescinsky, ‘The Collection of the Hon. Sir John Ward, KCVO’, Connoisseur, March 1921, p. 142, fig. 5.

R. W. Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II, 1929, p. 155, fig. 102; a chair from the set, formerly in the Percival D. Griffiths Collection.

Christie, Mason & Woods, ‘English and French Furniture, The Property of Henry Hirsch’, London, 22 March 1934, p. 18, lot 84.

Antique Collector, August 1953, p. Xvii, advertisement; a pair from the same set, with Charles Lumb & Sons Ltd., Harrogate, England.

Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986, pp. 371-2.

A REGENCY ROSEWOOD DRUM TABLE ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE AND RICHARD GILLOW OF OXFORD STREET, LONDON

English, circa 1815

Height: 29 ½ in; 75 cm
Diameter: 53 ¼ in; 135.5 cm

Provenance:
By repute, Hackwood Park.

An important early 19th century rosewood and brass inlaid drum table attributed to George and Richard Gillow of Oxford street, London, retaining the original gilt tooled patinated purple morocco leather top, cross banded and brass strung above four drawer frieze, exquisitely inlaid with panels of scrolled Boulle work; supported by a waisted fluted and gadrooned column on a concave sided triform base similarly inlaid and terminating in gadrooned bun feet.

Strong similarities in design and identical brass inlay compared with the well documented Hackwood Park library table confirm an attribution to Gillows and it is possible that this magnificent table once stood alongside the library table at Hackwood Park.

Gillows Memorandum states: ‘Apart from this desk (library table) the furniture included a ‘buhl’ drum library table en suite…the table…had a purple leather top to match the desk and purple silk in all the library doors’.

Literature:

Susan E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Vol 1, London 2008, pp.289-292.
Christies, ‘Hackwood Park’, 20th-22nd April 1998, pp.32-35.

A PAIR OF REGENCY CONVEX MIRRORS

English, circa 1815

A fine and important pair of large scale early 19th century carved giltwood convex mirrors with original plates, surmounted by eagle crestings above foliate carving, the concave moulded frames with gilt balls and ebonised slips, the apron with acanthus leaves, and the sides with twin candle arms with suspended glass droplets.

Height: 5 ft, 8 in; 173 cm
Width:  3 ft 11 ½ in; 120 cm
Depth: 9 in; 23 cm

Provenance:

Claude Chadburn Esq, Papplewick Hall, Nottinghamshire

Illustrated:

Arthur Oswald, Papplewick Hall, Nottinghamshire-II,  Country Life , 5 September 1963, p. 541, ills. 3/4.

A GEORGE II MAHOGANY STOOL ATTRIBUTED TO GILES GRENDEY

The stool is comparable to a suite of labelled seat furniture that Grendey supplied to Gunton Hall in Norfolk. Its hipped knees and cleft scroll toes are typical of Grendey’s work.

The stool:

English, circa 1755

The needlework:

English, circa 1730

Height: 18 in; 46 cm
Width: 26 in; 66 cm
Depth: 18 ½ in; 47 cm

Provenance:
Ronald Phillips Ltd., London, England;
Private collection, Philippines.

Illustrated:

Ronald Phillips Ltd., 2006 catalogue, p. 130.

Literature:

Christopher Gilbert, A Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700 -1840, 1996, p. 243, figs. 437- 8.

A REGENCY DIMINUTIVE CONVEX MIRROR

English, circa 1815

An early 19th century carved giltwood circular convex mirror with its original plate, surmounted by a simulated bronze painted eagle cresting with chain suspended gilt balls and flanked by billowing gilt flags, the concave moulded frame with gilt balls and an ebonised reeded slip, the apron with foliate carving with a bud pendant.

Height: 31 ½ in; 80 cm
Width: 18 in; 46 cm

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE

A very fine and beautifully figured mid 18th century Chippendale period breakfront bookcase, the cornice with a fluted frieze, above three unusually glazed doors each containing four adjustable shelves, the lower section with a gadrooned edge above quarter veneered panelled doors with carved husks and paterae to the corners, the central section opening to reveal adjustable tray shelves, the two flanking cupboards enclosing five drawers with gilt brass swan neck handles, the whole on a plinth base.

English, circa 1770

Height: 94 in; 239 cm
Width: 100 in; 254 cm
Depth: 26 in; 66 cm

A QUEEN ANNE GILT GESSO MIRROR

An early 18th century carved gilt gesso mirror with an original but re-silvered shaped rectangular bevelled plate within a re-entrant top, the foliate carved and moulded frame, with a shaped cresting centred by an arched cornice above a putto head.

English, circa 1710

Height: 36 in; 91.5 cm
Width: 18 in; 46 cm

Illustrated:
The Burlington Magazine, October 1970, p. XXVII.

A PAIR OF ‘PRINCE’S PATTERN’ CHAIRS

A PAIR OF GEORGE III SATINWOOD OPEN ARMCHAIRS ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS OF LANCASTER AND LONDON

The chairs have caned seats beneath the squab cushions.

English, circa 1790

Height: 37 ¼ in; 94.5 cm
Height of seat: 17 ½ in; 44.5 cm
Width: 22 in; 56 cm
Depth: 16 in; 40.5 cm

Provenance:
Ronald Phillips Ltd., London, England;
Private collection, USA.

Literature:
Susan E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, 2008, vol. I., p. 161, pl. 114.

The drawing for the ‘Prince’s Pattern’ was developed by Richard Gillow in London and sent to Robert Gillow in Lancaster. It is preserved in the Westminster Archive in London.Gillows produced the Prince’s Pattern chairs in painted beechwood, in mahogany and in exotic satinwood, which was the rarest and most expensive version.

A GEORGE III GILTWOOD OVERMANTEL MIRROR

English, circa 1785

Height: 44 ½ in; 113 cm
Width: 51 ¼ in; 130 cm
Depth: 3 ½ in; 9 cm

THE HEVENINGHAM HALL DINING CHAIRS

A SET OF SIX GEORGE III MAHOGANY ARMCHAIRS AND TWO ARMCHAIRS OF LATER DATE

English, circa 1785

Height: 35 ¼ in; 89.5 cm
Width: 23 in; 58.5 cm
Depth: 22 ¾ in; 58 cm

Provenance:
Heveningham Hall, Suffolk, England;
Ayer Ltd., Bath, England, until 1960s;
Mallett & Sons, Ltd. London, England, until 1972;
Private collection, England.

Illustrated:
Country Life, 3rd October 1925;
John Martin Robinson, James Wyatt - Architect to George III, London 2011, p.93

An almost identical chair is used as a desk chair in the library at Highclere Castle, Berkshire, England.

A PAIR OF GEORGE II GILTWOOD SIDE TABLES

An important pair of early 18th century Palladian period giltwood side tables in the manner of Benjamin Goodison each having a later rectangular marble top with protruding corners above a plain frieze with egg and dart mouldings and floral carved moulding having central Venus shell appliqué hung with swags of oak leaf garlands joined by four square scrolled legs with scaled sides and acanthus leaf to the front terminating in block toes.

English, circa 1740

Height: 31 3/4 in. 80.5 cm
Width: 35 1/2 in. 90.5 cm
Depth: 22 in. 56 cm

A REGENCY GILTWOOD PIER MIRROR

The mirror retains the original Mercury silvered mirror plate.

English, circa 1815

Height 45 1/4 in. 115 cm
Width: 24 in. 61 cm