Footnotes

The offered lot, with its combination of fine ormolu mounts, parcel gilt enrichments and rosewood case work, is highly typical of the output of the cabinet making enterprise, John McLean and Son. This renowned firm, which was active during the period 1770-1815, had locations at both Little Newport Street and Upper Marylebone Street, both in London.

The form of the present piece has its roots in a design for a galleried and mirror-backed 'Lady's Secretary', with similar upper tiers intended for the storage and display of books and decorative objects, which first appears in Thomas Sheraton's "Drawing Book", originally published between 1791 and 1794, pl. XLI.

However, although it is not stamped, signed or labelled, the above cabinet is undoubtedly attributable to John McLean due to its elegant amalgamation of Grecian and Egyptian design elements with late 18th/early 19th century trends within French furniture - all hallmarks of this particular maker. The overall configuration and toupie feet seem to be characteristics inspired by the Louis XVI output of the previous generation. Whilst, despite the fact John McLean advertised that his company specialised in the production of 'Elegant Parisian Furniture', there is a distinct English restraint overall which is noticeable throughout all of his oeuvre.

A near identical chiffonier, likewise attributed to McLean, sold Christie's, London, 20 November 2008, Dealing in Excellence; A Collection of Hotspur and Jeremy, lot 119, whilst another of this type sold Sotheby's, New York, 24 April 2008, Tom Devenish: The Collection, Highly Important English Furniture, lot 173. Further models include a very similar one with rectangular re-entrant panelled doors combined with lion paw feet, which sold Sotheby's, New York, 24 April 2008, Tom Devenish: The Collection, lot 174. This same secretaire then subsequently sold Christie's, New York, 8 October 2015, Living with Art, lot 158.

A very close comparable, albeit with rectangular re-entrant panelling to its doors and a McLean label to the interior, forms part of the Victoria and Albert Museum. This appears in Georgian Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum, revised and edited by D. FitzGerald, 1969, London, fig. 140 and the maker's label it is applied with can be dated to the period 1805-1815.

Two other related examples are illustrated in C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1700-1840, 1996, Leeds, fig.'s 592 and 596,pp.'s 313 & 315. The first with similar oval panels to the present lot but different giltwood reeded columns, has a McLean label from the same period as the former, whilst the second bears one from the marginally earlier years of 1799-1805. Two additional versions feature in S. Redburn, "John McLean and Son", Furniture History, 1978, pl. 33A and G. Beard and J. Goodison, English Furniture, 1500-1840, 1987, Oxford, fig. 8, p. 269.