GLEN COVE, N.Y. – A pair of Chinese export Padouk side chairs sold for $39,975 at Roland NY’s May 22 sale. The firm said they were styled after a design by Giles Grendey in the second quarter of the Eighteenth Century. Each featured a foliate carved crest rail centered by a shell over a vase-shaped splat. They had cabriole legs carved with shells and pendant foliage with ball-and-claw feet on the front.

Chairs of this family were illustrated in Carl Crossman’s 1991 title The Decorative Arts of the China Trade: Paintings, Furnishings and Exotic Curiosities. The author posited that these may have been made to special order for members of the British East India Company at their foreign posts in China or Macao. Relatively few are listed on the company’s ledgers.

The London cabinetmaker Giles Grendey was well-known and sought after during his time, taking on commissions for export as well as wealthy clients, like the Spanish Duke of Infantado. His designs would inspire countless furniture makers in his region and even abroad, as seen by this pair.

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