Examples of his furniture can be found in the Victorian and Albert Museum, The California Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Library at Saltram, Devon.
The first appearance of the name 'McLean' can be found on the south side of Little Newport Street, Leicester Square in June 1770, where a "Jn.
One of the "fashionable Pieces of Cabinet Furniture" included a "Pouch Table", whose design was taken and "executed by Mr. M'Lean in Mary-le-bone street, near Tottenham court road, who finishes these small articles in the neatest manner".
The firm of John McLean and Son advertised that it specialised in "Elegant Parisian Furniture" and although the six surviving pieces that bear his trade label are undoubtedly English, they do owe much to Gallic influence not only in their design.
A final journal entry in the same year states, "Died so poor that his body was sent in a box by wagon into the country to relations".