ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN MCLEAN, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

This 'chiffonier' commode, 'buhl-inlaid' and ormolu-enriched, reflects the Louis Quatorze style adopted for fashionable drawing-rooms in the early 19th Century. The reeded pillar and trellised rail of its mirrored 'chiffonier' book-stand, as well as the framed panels correspond to that of a rosewood secretaire, which bears the label adopted around 1800 by John McLean & Son of Upper Marylebone Street, specialists in 'Elegant Parisian Furniture' (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1700-1840, London 1996, p. 315, pl. 596). It belongs to a group of chiffoniers with two-tiered superstructures, mirrored backs, trellis sides and satyr masks, which can be attributed to John McLean of Tottenham Court Road and 58 Marylebone Street (1770-1825), (S. Redburn, Furniture History, 1978, pl. 32b, 33a, 33b, 34a, 34b).