A GEORGE II FIGURED WALNUT SIDE CHAIR

A set of labeled Grendey chairs with the same profile legs and highly figured splat is illustrated in C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p. 242, fig. 435. Another chair with identical back is illustrated in R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. edn., 1954, vol. I, p. 254, fig. 85.

The stamp 'WF' is possibly for an unrecorded tradesman employed in the Grendey workshop. A number of chairs from Grendey's workshop bear the stamp of his journeymen, some of which are recorded in the archives preserved in the Public Records Office. The same 'WF' stamp appears on an impressive set of dining-chairs with identical legs and scallop backs almost certainly supplied by Grendey to John, 1st Earl Poulett for Hinton House, Somerset.