Worktable from the bedroom of the Worsham-Rockefeller House
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This worktable embodies the inspired moment of the early 1880s when international exoticism was grafted onto historical European forms to create something altogether new, with graceful proportions, artistic flair, and ornamentation at once luxurious and restrained. Constructed of purpleheart, the imported exotic wood that Schastey favored, its splayed legs and skirt exhibit a shimmering inlaid patterning of brass, pewter, and mother-of-pearl, which creates a scale-like design indebted to Asian and Near Eastern sources. This distinctive use of patterned inlaid metalwork is found in other examples of Schastey’s oeuvre. Beautiful and functional, the table’s top sides lift up to reveal satinwood interiors and the long central drawer pulls out to display a sewing box covered and lined in silk velvet.
Artwork Details
- Title: Worktable from the bedroom of the Worsham-Rockefeller House
- Maker: George A. Schastey & Co. (American, New York, 1873–1897)
- Maker: George A. Schastey (American (born Germany), Merseburg 1839–1894 at sea)
- Date: 1881–82
- Geography: Made in New York, New York, United States
- Culture: American
- Medium: Purpleheart, satinwood, walnut, mahogany, poplar, brass, pewter or lead, mother-of-pearl, glass, colored resin, and original and reproduction textiles
- Dimensions: 30 3/4 × 40 3/8 × 24 1/4 in. (78.1 × 102.6 × 61.6 cm)
- Credit Line: Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, New York, Museum Purchase, by exchange with gifts from Jane B. Sayre Bryant and David E. Bryant in memory of the Sayre Family, and from the H. Randolph Lever Bequest
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing