JOHN MCLEAN & SON (worked from c.1770)

WS250

Rosewood and brass-inlaid

48.00 inch wide   58.00 inch high   18.00 inch deep

121.92 cm wide  147.32 cm high  45.72 cm deep

Excellent

Fine Rosewood and brass-inlaid drawing room cabinet,attributed to John McLean.The condition throughout is superb, and it has been sympathetically cleaned.
There is a paper label in the drawer which reads:
"selected for and exhibited at the League Antiques Exhibition, Sherrys, New York,1942.
This cabinet,with its fine quality cabinet work and distinctive mounts, resembles the cabinet work of John McLean, see Simon Redburn, "John McLean and Son," Furniture History,(Vol.XIV 1978, pp.31-7). Redburn illustrates a number of secretaire pieces by McLean that illustrates their development from the more simple, elegant examples, of which this is one, to the over embellished later pieces.
The firm of John McLean and Son advertised that it specialised in "Elegant Parisian Furniture" and although the 6 surviving pieces that bear his trade label are undoubtedly English, they do owe much to Gallic influence not only in their design, but also in their lavish use of metal mounts, (see Redburn, ibid.,p.33).McLean seems to have worked primarily in rosewood, though Redburn states that he certainly worked in other mediums. He comments that, "perhaps the most dominant feature of McLean's decoration is his lavish use of metalwork in cast and chased brass, which is gilded and lacquered. The actual cabinet work is of high order, the pieces being meticulously finished, both externally and internally, in the English manner.
Price on application

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