Regency Coromandel & Brass Cabinet

RESERVED

Circa 1820

Amazing Regency Coromandel and Brass embellished Cabinet, the three-quarter galleried open two-tier shelf unit on baluster turned brass supports over a plain top and one long and two short frieze drawers, over two cupboard doors, flanked by turned tapering side pilasters, raised on turned feet. The centre drawer to the frieze is fitted with a gilt-tooled green leather-lined hinged Writing/Reading flap and an arrangement to take ink bottles, quills etc. The quality and detail of the brass work on this fabulous cabinet along with the colour, grain and condition of the Coromandel make this an exceptional find.

H: 53.25”, 135.5cms W:36.25”, 92 cms D:19.5”, 49.5 cms.

RESERVED

Attributed to John McLean & Sons, London.

Note: Coromandel was one of the rarest and most prized exotic veneers only ever found on the very finest pieces due to the very high cost. This was described as being “by far the most beautiful of the fancy woods” at the time when this cabinet was made. Diospyros Celebica / Ebenaceae or Macassar Ebony as it is also known grew on the Celebes Islands between Borneo and Indonesia. It is an exceptionally dense, hard and heavy wood. The quality of the brass gallery, support columns and applique mouldings were only available in London at that time and the combination of Coromandel and Brass in this high Regency Fashion cabinet strongly suggest an attribution to John McLean and Sons of London.

Footnote: John McLean (born 1770; died 1825) was an English furniture and cabinet maker and designer. He is mentioned in Thomas Sheraton’s 1803 ‘Cabinet Dictionary’ and worked extensively for the 5th Earl of Jersey at Middleton Park, Oxfordshire, and his London mansion in Berkeley Square. Examples of his furniture can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, The California Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Library at Saltram House, Devon.

Lit: Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Christopher Gilbert, Pages 312 to 316 J. McLean & Son.

English Furniture, The Georgian period (1750-1830), Margaret Jourdain, Pages 51, 103 and 150

“Regency Furniture” Margaret Jourdain, Page 35,Fig 56, Page 42

Ackermann’s “Regency Furniture & Interiors” Page 144, Plate 131 and Page 31