A fine Regency gilt-metal-mounted inlaid rosewood and rosewood-grained parcel-gilt library table attributed to John McLean Circa 1805

the leather-lined top with ribbed gilt-metal edge above a frieze with four hinged quadrant drawers alternating with pull-out drawers divided by ribbed brass tablets, on a turned pillar and four splayed legs with conforming mounts ending in brass cap castors, the underside of the top stained black; one drawer bearing a Norman Adams label.

The late Mrs. Nesta Sybil Liston, M. B. E, Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Norman Adams Ltd., London

Stair and Company, New York

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin H. Herzog

Sotheby's New York, April 12-13, 1985, lot 205

Mallett, London

C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, 18^th Century English Furniture The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1983, p. 163

Good quality; restored condition; the later leather-lined top with minor scratches and wear and with creases and cracks along lines of construction to underside; brass edge lifting slightly in places and with some minor dents; replacements to some veneers of frieze especially to areas surrounding inset-brass panels with some areas of later rosewood-graining and inpainting; age cracks and separations to veneers; underside with warpage to block above stem, age cracks and shim; stem with redecoration to rosewood graining; later gilding to collar and now with losses and chips; replacements to veneers of legs; one leg loose and separating from stem; age crack to top of one leg; legs in need of tightening; the surface with areas of varnish dripping and streaks from later staining; brass ribbed inset panels appear to be later gilded; would benefit from cosmetic restoration.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This fine rosewood library table epitomizes the work of the London cabinet-maker John McLean & Son. First recorded in Little Newport, Leicester Square, London, his trade card described him as a 'Cabinet. Chair Maker and UPHOLDER,' the laurel wreath and husk ornamented cartouche enclosing a drawing of a ladies' dressing table with cabriole legs in the French manner.  By 1790 the firm had moved to Upper Marylebone Street at which address they remained until the demise of the firm in 1825, although two other addresses are recorded at the turn of the century at Pancras Street and Upper Terrace, both close to Tottenham Court Road.

McLean's firm is notable for its regular use of trade labels, several versions of which are recorded, which were normally glued to the insides of drawers. These are normally of simple design bearing the firm's name and various addresses, although two pictorial examples are recorded.  One shows an elaborately styled Gothic shop front displaying the sign board 'Ino MACLEAN & SON,' the other showing a fashionably furnished drawing room with the words 'Elegant / PARISIAN FURNITURE / WAREROOMS.' The mention of Parisian Furniture is particularly interesting as the design of the firm's earlier furniture is undoubtedly in the French taste. An announcement in The Times of January 31, 1806 declared that the firm 'have re-opened their Warerooms with a new and elegant assemblage of Parisian furniture,' further advertising on February 11, 1811 that that they wished 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... Which being the production of their own manufactory, they are able to offer on terms most advantageous: bedding of every description: pier and chimney glasses, carpeting &c.'

A surviving account which covers the period from July 1806 to April 1807 clearly illustrates the extent of the firm's business; totaling £4,793. 11s. 10d., it relates to the almost complete furnishing of Middleton Park, Oxfordshire for George Villiers, fifth Earl of Jersey and his wife, Lady Sarah Fane, heiress of Robert Child, owner of Osterley Park.  This, together with another account for the same client relating to pieces supplied for work carried out at his house in Berkeley Square are the only the only known documented commissions, although pieces attributed to the firm are recorded at Grimsthorpe Castle, Saltram and Harewood House.

Fortunately, the firm's practice of labeling furniture allows firm attributions to be made to a wide variety of pieces whose authorship might otherwise have remained anonymous, such as the present piece. However, attributions can also be made by studying the cabinet work and construction of his pieces. Invariably veneered in rosewood, the richly dark figuring of the wood, although now faded, was enriched with parcel gilding and lacquered brass mounts, the most notable being the inset tablets of 'match-striker' design which are one of McLean's 'hall marks.' The interior construction is always of high quality, the smaller drawers and bottoms of larger drawers being made of cedar.

These characteristics feature on several labelled pieces and indeed on a very similar drum table advertised by Temple Williams in Country Life, June 8, 1972, p.1435 and also illustrated in S. Redburn, 'John McLean and Son', The Journal of the Furniture History Society, 1978, vol. XIV, pl. 42a.  There is a reference in appendix 2 of 'A Rosewood round library writing table elegantly mounted with ormolu moulding, lined with leather cedar Drawers and varnished' that was supplied by McLean to the Earl of Jersey, the invoice dated 30 April 1807 for the then costly sum of £26. 10s.

The present table is also lined with leather, fitted with cedar drawers and has a characteristic feature of McLean's oeuvre, as noted by Redburn, op. cit., p. 33, 'an unusual black wash is sometimes found on the underside of certain pieces in place of the normal red ochre.'

An almost identical table was sold, Sotheby's London, November 22, 2006, lot 114 (£148,000 including premium); the table from Middleton Park supplied to the Earl of Jersey, Redburn, op. cit., was sold, Christie's London, Dealing in Excellence: A Celebration of Hotspur and Jeremy, November 20, 2008, lot 20 (£181,250 including premium).