An important George II veneered walnut and parcel-gilt bureau cabinet circa 1740, attributed to Giles Grendey

the upper part with a broken architectural cornice with cross-cut and dentil mouldings centered by a carved gilt-gesso cartouche ornamented with paper scrolls, foliage and gadrooned edges centered by an irregular cabochon carved in low relief with foliage and scrolls on a ring-punched ground, above a cavetto moulding over cross-cut and dentil mouldings, the two doors below veneered in finely figured walnut, each centered by a shaped bevelled mirror plate within conforming gilt-gesso mouldings carved in low relief with foliate scrolled strapwork, the interior fitted with two adjustable shelves, the edges veneered, above a row of pigeonholes over three shallow veneered drawers with ring handles, and with sliding candle-stands; the fall-front with highly figured quartered veneers within cross-and-feather bandings opening to a figured veneered writing surface and an arrangement of small drawers with ring handles centered by a small cupboard, the door with a shaped mirror plate within a foliate-carved gilt-gesso moulding, flanked by two fluted pilasters with carved giltwood Corinthian capitals and moulded bases concealing document drawers, the lower part with four graduated drawers, the fronts with mirrored veneers within cockbeading and cross-and-feather bandings and retaining the original double-looped brass pulls with shaped, cut and pierced back plates, above a cross-cut moulded base with outswept molded ogee bracket feet

Stair & Company Inc., New York City, January 1, 1963, $8,500.00;
The Collection of Mr and Mrs Martin Gersh, Sotheby's, New York, 18 October 2006, lot 36.

Ralph Edwards and Margaret Jourdain, Georgian Cabinet-Makers, London, 1946.
Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986.
Christopher Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996.

An attractive piece in good conserved condition. The top cresting has lost much of its gilding. With old marks and scratches consistent with age and use. The feet with some minor restoration notably to the right hand side. This piece is ready to place.
"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."

Giles Grendey (b. 1693- d.1780) of Aylesbury House, St. John’s Square, Clerkenwell, was described at the time of his wife’s death as a ‘great dealer in the Cabinet way’, and further in 1755 when his daughter married the Royal Cabinetmaker John Cobb as an ‘eminent Timber Merchant’. Apprenticed in 1709, Grendey who was born in Wotton-under–Edge in Gloucestershire, became a freeman in 1716, by 1726 taking apprentices into his own employ. After his marriage in 1720 he became a freeman of the City of London and was elected to the Livery of the Joiner’s Company in 1729. A contemporary account of a disastrous fire at his premises on August 3, 1731 was reported in various newspapers including The Daily Courant, The Daily Journal and The Daily Post. In these, Grendey was described as a ‘Cabinet-Maker and Chairmaker’ whose losses included ‘an easy Chair of such rich and curious Workmanship, that he had refus’d 500 Guineas for it, it being intended, ‘tis said, to be purchas’d by a Person of Quality who design’d as a Present to a German Prince’, together with furniture to the value of £1,000 which he ‘had pack’d for Exportation against the Next Morning’.

Although it is obvious that Grendey’s business was considerable, only a small number of documents exist recording the names of his clients and the extent and nature of their commissions. These include Richard Hoare of Barn Elms, Surrey whose bill dated 1723 included a chest of drawers, a ‘Burow Table’, dressing  glasses, chimney glasses, and a ‘Wrighting Disk’, further acquiring in 1732 wall sconces, gold frames for glasses, tables and a chest. In the account book of Henry Hoare dated 1746-1756 various payments are recorded including £46 for chairs and in 1762 Lord Scarsdale of Kedleston Hall acquired ‘1 Fine Jamai. Mahog. Plank’ for £21. His extensive oeuvre is further illustrated by a number of examples which unusually retain his printed trade labels, one of which declares that Grendey ‘Makes and Sells all Sorts of Cabinet-Goods, Chairs and Glasses’. Labelled pieces include cabinets of various forms including clothes presses, chests of drawers, mirrors, drop-leaf tables and chairs. Many of the latter retain the stamped initials of Grendey’s workmen, several of which relate to his recorded apprentices allowing further attributions to be made to unlabelled pieces. The largest group of these is found on a suite of scarlet-japanned furniture which was supplied by Grendey to the Duke of Infantado, Lazcano Palace, Spain. Comprising some 77 pieces including chairs, tables, mirrors, tripod stands, the suite also included several desk and bookcases of remarkable similarity to the present example.  

As Simon Jervis notes (Beard and Gilbert, op. cit. p. 372) his work mostly ‘falls into three stylistic groups: neat well-made pieces in walnut and mahogany, similar pieces lacquered in scarlet for the Spanish market, and a minority of more elaborate works with idiosyncratic carved decoration and shaped panels’. The Gersh cabinet, which can be firmly attributed to Giles Grendey, neatly and successfully encompasses several of these characteristics. The carcase and drawer linings are constructed of fine quality wainscot oak as are the interior of the doors, the walnut veneers being of exceptional figure and finely matched. The unusually shaped mirrored doors are found on several pieces of case furniture including red-japanned desk bookcases from the aforementioned Lazcano suite; of an almost identical profile to the Gersh cabinet, this also has the same ogee bracket feet. Further labelled pieces with these ‘idiosyncratic’ panels, constructed in plain mahogany with either blind or mirrored doors are illustrated by Christopher Gilbert (op. cit. plates 432 and 433).