Regency Brass-Mounted and Inlaid Rosewood Secretaire Chiffonier
Attributed to John Mclean & Son (1770-c.1815)
ENGLAND, circa 1810
Height: 57 inches (144cm)
Width: 39½ inches (100cm)
Depth: 19 inches (49cm)
Provenance:
with Jeremy Ltd., London
Ralph Rokeby-Johnson, Santa Fé
Private Collection, Park Avenue, New York
This chiffonier closely relates to a group associated with the leading early 19th century cabinet-maker John McLean. Examples from this group include a chiffonier in the Victorian and Albert Museum bearing McLean’s own label, illustrated in Desmond Fitzgerald’s Georgian Furniture (1969, no. 140) and several other examples illustrated in Simon Redburn, ‘John McLean & Son’, Furniture History Journal (vol. XIV, 1978, figs 32b-34b). Shared characteristics include the combination of figured rosewood veneers and gilt-brass mounts, and the construction of the lower and upper sections and the distinct pierced brass panels, which are of identical pattern to those on a number of other pieces linked to McLean, examples of which are illustrated in Redburn (op. cit., pls. 36b, 38b, 39a-b, and 40a).
