Cabinet for the drawing room, Arabella Worsham/John D. Rockefeller House, 4 West 54th Street, New York
Date1881-82
Attributed to
George A. Schastey
American, 1839-1894
Label TextThis cabinet is from a lost masterpiece -- an interior designed for one of the most lavish houses in Manhattan in the 1880s, the home of Arabella Worsham, mistress of the railroad magnate Collis Huntington. Desirous of giving his mistress her dream house, Huntington commissioned interiors from one of the finest New York designers of the day, George Schastey. Tastes changed, Huntington married Worsham, and then moved her into another grand mansion just a few years later. The first Arabella Worsham house, on West 54th Street, was torn down in 1934 to make way for the new Museum of Modern Art; and with that, Shastey's name was lost to history. This is one of the few pieces to survive from Schastey's greatest commission.
This ornate cabinet, with its garlands and cherubs, and agate-encrusted shield-like drawer pulls, was designed to declare its kinship with the most sumptuous furnishings of the palaces of the Italian Renaissance.
"The things that go into the furnishing of a house are so vastly improved with us, and things once rare are now become so common… that it is a comparatively easy matter… for people in ordinary good circumstances to have their rooms looking not merely comfortable but handsome."
– Clarence Cook, art critic, 1881
In the 1870s and 1880s, Americans regarded art with unprecedented enthusiasm. The accumulation of objects of taste and beauty that began with the country's new wealthy captains of industry, who built homes to rival the princely palaces of European royalty, quickly spread to an ever-wider circle of the population. Art, design, decoration, ornament, beauty, style, art from the past, art from other cultures—all these terms were part of the common vocabulary of people who aspired to demonstrate a sense of fine taste.
This American cabinet is a magnificent example of Renaissance Revival, one of the great reform movements of the latter part of the nineteenth century. With its richness of detail, lavish materials and superb craftsmanship, the cabinet represents luxury furniture that did not lend itself to mass production. It was created by Herter Brothers, one of the most respected firms in the United States.
– Clarence Cook, art critic, 1881
In the 1870s and 1880s, Americans regarded art with unprecedented enthusiasm. The accumulation of objects of taste and beauty that began with the country's new wealthy captains of industry, who built homes to rival the princely palaces of European royalty, quickly spread to an ever-wider circle of the population. Art, design, decoration, ornament, beauty, style, art from the past, art from other cultures—all these terms were part of the common vocabulary of people who aspired to demonstrate a sense of fine taste.
This American cabinet is a magnificent example of Renaissance Revival, one of the great reform movements of the latter part of the nineteenth century. With its richness of detail, lavish materials and superb craftsmanship, the cabinet represents luxury furniture that did not lend itself to mass production. It was created by Herter Brothers, one of the most respected firms in the United States.
Object number2006.5
ProvenanceUnidentified dealer; sold to [Margot Johnson, Inc., New York]; sold to Seattle Art Museum, 2006
Photo CreditPhoto: Beth Mann
Exhibition HistoryNew York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age: George A. Schastey, Dec. 15, 2015 - June 5, 2016. No catalogue.Published References"Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures." London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, pp. 22-23, illus. p. 22
Junker, Patricia. "America in the Artful Age," A Community of Collectors, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 2008, p. 190, illus. 160.
Vincent, Nicholas C. "Rediscovering George A. Schastey." The Magazine Antiques 183, no. 1 (January/February 2016): pp. 177-178, reprodced fig. 8.
Felinghuysen, Alice cooney and Nicholas C. Vincent. "Artistic Furiture of the Gilded Age." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 73, no. 3 (Winter 2016): reproduced fig. 23.
Beckerdite, Luke. American Furniture. Hanover: Chipstone Foundation, 2017; pp. 71, 81, 96, reproduced fig. 12, 38, 68
Credit LineGuendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Endowment for the Decorative Arts, the Decorative Arts and Paintings Council and the Decorative Arts Acquisition Fund, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Dimensions60 1/2 x 75 3/4 x 13 1/4 in. (153.7 x 192.4 x 33.7cm)
MediumEbonized oak with brass, and gilded bronze and agate pulls
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