A PAIR OF GEORGE II MAHOGANY SIDE CHAIRS attributed to Giles Grendey

Giles Grendey (d.1780) was a cabinet-maker of St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, London. He ran
a substantial business from 1726 (when he took his first apprentices) until at least the late 1760s, following his appointment as Master of the Joiners’ Company in 1766. Described 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 also 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.
Grendey was very involved in the timber and export business and infact is probably best known
for the extensive suite of scarlet-japanned furniture he executed for the Duke of Infantado’s castle at Lazcano, Spain. Recently discovered labelled mirrors in Norway also indicate that Grendey exported goods to Scandinavia.