L O N D O N N E W Y O R K

A REGENCY SECRETAIRE CABINET ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN MCLEAN

An early nineteenth century ormolu-mounted rosewood secretaire cabinet attributed to John McLean (1770-1825), the superstructure with two shelves with inset mirrored glass back, pierced geometric panelled sides below a pierced gallery, the cabinet with a single drawer in the frieze with a panelled front with lion’s head ring pull handles, decorated with garlands of flowers within a border opening to reveal a writing suface in front of a series of small drawers and pigeon-holes, above two panelled cupboard doors with rectangular mouldings flanked with further drops of gilt metal flowers headed by lion’s masks below classical terms, all supported on turned parcel-gilt feet.

English, circa 1810

Height: 59in (150cm)Width: 37in (94cm)Depth: 14½in (37cm)

Literature:cf : Desmond Fitzgerald, Georgian Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1969, no. 140.Simon Redburn, “John McLean and Son”, Furniture History, 1978, The Journal of the Furniture History Society, Vol. XIV, pp. 31-37, ill. pl. 33A.Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986, pp. 567-568.Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, Vol I, p. 159, fig. 82.Frances Collard, Regency Furniture, p. 145.Margaret Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795-1820, p. 137, fig. 153.

F2A0069

John McLean’s design for a work table published in Thomas Sheraton’s Cabinet Directory of 1803 and his trade label.

John McLean (1770-1825)

This secretaire can confidently be attributed to John McLean and Son, one of the major names of London cabinet-making in the early nineteenth century. The firm used trade labels throughout its career which were attached to their work, allowing positive attributions to be made to unlabeled pieces such as the present cabinet. A secretaire of identical form to this, other than the shape of the finials and the mouldings on the cupboard doors, and bearing McLean’s label is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. McLean’s furniture is generally of rosewood that has faded with age. Originally almost black in colour, the rosewood veneer would have provided a dramatic foil for the fine quality mounts that he used so successfully. The work is of the very highest quality and the examples offered all show an elegance of line typical of McLean furniture.

The firm originated in Little Newport Street, off Leicester Square, as ‘Jn Mc Lane’ in 1770, becoming the tenant of a ‘Ho & workshops’ at a rent of £36 a year. He is later listed in Little Newport Street as ‘Jno M’Clean cabinet maker’. His trade label describes him: “Jno Macklane/Cabinet, Chair Maker and/Upholder/ in Little Newport Street/ near Leicester Square/ London/ NB Funerals Perform’d”. In 1790 he is recorded at 55 Upper Marylebone Street. The firm had two other addresses near Tottenham Court Road but by 1805-1815, the period to which the present cabinet dates, the trade label read: “Manufactured and Sold by/JOHN McLEAN and SON, 58 Upper Mary-le-bone-Street The end of Howland Street, Portland-Place”.

Influenced by the style of the late Louis XVI and Empire periods, McLean made furniture to appeal to the taste of those who still favoured the earlier French style, inspired by the likes of Weisweiler and Reisener. He advertised himself as specialising in ‘Elegant Parisian Furniture’. On 31st January 1806 a notice was placed in The Times newspaper announcing that the firm had “re-opened their Warerooms with a new and elegant assemblage of Parisian Furniture”. On 11th February 1811, they announced that:

John M’Lean and Son beg leave to acquaint the Nobility, Gentry and Public in general, they have in their Ware rooms a new and elegant assortment of every article of useful and ornamental furniture, upon the most approved principle, for furnishing houses, complete, which being the production of their own manufactory, they are enabled to off on terms most advantageous: bedding of every description: pier and chimney glasses, carpeting, &c.

McLean was also influenced by Thomas Sheraton and subscribed to his Cabinet Directory of 1803. There he is listed among the master cabinet-makers, a small work table of his being described by Sheraton: ‘The design ...taken from one executed by Mr M’Lean in Mary-le-bone street, near Tottenham court road, who finishes these small articles in the neatest manner’. The dictionary was a compilation of some of the more fashionable pieces of the time and McLean’s mention was an immense achievement.

Documentation of McLean’s output is minimal, but accounts exist rendered to George Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey for the furnishing of their new house, Middleton Park in Oxfordshire. Covering the period between July 1806 and April 1807, the account totaled £4,793. 11s. 10d., and included the making and supplying of furniture, hangings, carpets, wallpaper, and window curtains for the bedrooms and principal reception rooms. Attached to this account was a further list of furniture supplied to the Earl’s London residence in Berkeley Square, which included a ‘rosewood pier table... elegantly mounted in ormolu’ and ‘a rosewood round library writing table elegantly mounted with ormolu mouldings.’

No other commissions appear to be recorded but McLean is believed to have supplied furniture to Carlton House for the Prince Regent and a stamped games table exists at Saltram House in Devon. Unlabeled pieces attributed to McLean are at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, Harewood House in Yorkshire and a fine large writing desk at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire. The group of known pieces of furniture by McLean’s workshop show a favour for rosewood veneers, satinwood banding, boxwood stringing, delicate brass inlay in some instances and giltwood detail in others. The gilded mounts are finely chased and the fluted brass insets found on his writing tables and bonheurs du jour are a hallmark of his work.

From the six known labelled pieces of furniture and accounts for work carried out for the Earl of Jersey, indicates that McLean was amongst the best of the London trade. The quality of the secretaire cabinet offered by Mallett shares not only the high quality of McLean’s work, but also his distinctive style which stands out amidst the late Neo-classical revival of the English Regency era.

Secretaire cabinet in the Victoria and Albert Museum, bearing the trade label of John McLean.

A library table and games table, both with the label of ‘John M’Lane & Son’, at Saltram in Devon. (Property of the National Trust)

Details showing the variety of gilded brass mounts common to McLean pieces illustrated in Furniture History Society, 1978.

Gilded brass mounts and gilt gesso decoration common to McLean pieces illustrated in Furniture History Society, 1978.

A bonheur du jour attributed to McLean, Mallett archive

Mallett archive

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