A George II carved and veneered kingwood concertina action card table, in the manner of Giles Grendey circa 1755

the concave parquetry top with a border of crossbanding and re-entrant corners above a plain frieze above scroll, acanthus carved corners above pendants of oak leaves heading cabriole legs ending in scrolled, the fold-over top opening to reveal a velvet lined surface with dished gaming wells

This table is highly unusual. The carving and form is fine. There are replaced sections of veneer and some sections have been re-glued and as a result are uneven. The carved angle brackets are good but may have been detached and it is possible some of these maybe well done later replacements. The scrolled feet have signs of later fixing and these too may have been detached. There are also chips to some carved detail from age and use. The later velvet surface is tired and has stains and wear.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This very rare table has finely carved hipped cabriole legs ending in boldly scrolled feet, both of these features can be associated with the work of Giles Grendey (b. 1693-d. 1780).  

Grendey was apprenticed in 1709 to the London joiner William Sherborne, becoming free in 1716. Taking his own apprentices by 1726, he was elected to the Livery of the Joiner’s Company in 1729. His first workshop was at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, moving to premises in St. John’s Square, Clerkenwell in 1722, where he developed a thriving export trade. It was reported in various newspapers on August 7, 1731, including the Daily Post and Daily Advertiser, that a fire which started on adjacent premises to Mr Grendey, a ‘Cabinet-Maker and Chair-Maker’, caused him to lose furniture to the value of £1,000, which ‘he had pack’d for Exportation against the next morning’. His most famous recorded commission came from the Duke of Infantado, Lazcano, northern Spain, who acquired a suite of some seventy pieces of scarlet-japanned furniture including cabinets, tables, torchères, mirrors and seat furniture. Many of these retained Grendey's printed paper trade label, together with a number of stamped initials which can be identified with the names of his apprentices. These labels and initials have allowed a number of attributions to be made expanding his oeuvre, his actual documented work being very sparse.

For a card table which shares similar decorative devices to the offered lot see and example sold Christie's, London, 23 November 2006, lot 148, also see a cabinet on stand sold Christie's, London, 13 November 1997 again employing a variant of the same finely carved legs on this card table. Perhaps the best known suite of furniture in which Grendey uses these elements is a set of seat furniture produced by him for Grunton Park, Norfolk, which bears his trade label see Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, Leeds, 1996, p. 240, fig. 432.