拍品專文
This black rosewood 'Lady's Secretary', supporting a two-tiered and mirror-backed 'chiffonier' gallery for books and decorative objects, relates to a 1792 pattern published in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book, 1791-94, pl. 23. Pairs of these cabinets feature on either side of fireplaces in early 19th Century interior views.
A very closely related cabinet, with nymph busts in place of the urn finials, was bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1944. It has a label inscribed 'Manufactured and Sold by J. McLane & Son., Pancras Street, Tottenham Court Road, and 58 Upper Marylebone Street, Portland Place' (see: J.F. Hayward, English Desks and Bureaux, London, 1968, no. 28). The cabinet-maker John McLean (d.1815) acquired his additional premises in Upper Marylebone Street in 1790. They were renumbered 58 in 1795. This label records his partnership with his son William (d.1825) and was in use until 1805.
The firm specialised in elegant 'Parisian Furniture' and in Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary of 1803, one of McLean's brass-galleried lady's work tables was noted as being finished 'in the neatest manner' (see: S. Redburn, 'John McLean and Son.', Furniture History, 1978, pp. 31-37 and fig. 33).
A very similar cabinet was sold from the collection of the late W.W. Marsh, Esq., in these Rooms, 28 June 1984, lot 114. One of the firm's labels, with the post-1805 58 Upper Marylebone Street address only, features a bonheur-du-jour. This and a Carlton House desk from Brympton d'Evercy, Somerset, have similar decorative ornament and lion-mask handles (ibid., pls. 31C, 38B and 35A). Another related cabinet with the French hollow-cornered panels replaced by ovals, was also sold from the collection of the late W.W. Marsh, Esq., in these Rooms, 28 June 1984, lot 113
A very closely related cabinet, with nymph busts in place of the urn finials, was bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1944. It has a label inscribed 'Manufactured and Sold by J. McLane & Son., Pancras Street, Tottenham Court Road, and 58 Upper Marylebone Street, Portland Place' (see: J.F. Hayward, English Desks and Bureaux, London, 1968, no. 28). The cabinet-maker John McLean (d.1815) acquired his additional premises in Upper Marylebone Street in 1790. They were renumbered 58 in 1795. This label records his partnership with his son William (d.1825) and was in use until 1805.
The firm specialised in elegant 'Parisian Furniture' and in Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary of 1803, one of McLean's brass-galleried lady's work tables was noted as being finished 'in the neatest manner' (see: S. Redburn, 'John McLean and Son.', Furniture History, 1978, pp. 31-37 and fig. 33).
A very similar cabinet was sold from the collection of the late W.W. Marsh, Esq., in these Rooms, 28 June 1984, lot 114. One of the firm's labels, with the post-1805 58 Upper Marylebone Street address only, features a bonheur-du-jour. This and a Carlton House desk from Brympton d'Evercy, Somerset, have similar decorative ornament and lion-mask handles (ibid., pls. 31C, 38B and 35A). Another related cabinet with the French hollow-cornered panels replaced by ovals, was also sold from the collection of the late W.W. Marsh, Esq., in these Rooms, 28 June 1984, lot 113