Occasional Pieces of Choice and Useful Household Furniture, Trade Catalogue (Springfield, MA: George A. Schastey Company)

Occasional Pieces of Choice and Useful Household Furniture, Trade Catalogue (Springfield, MA: George A. Schastey Company)

George A. Schastey & Co.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although plagued by financial struggles, a common trend among businesses that worked on the basis of commissions, George A. Schastey continued to grow his cabinetmakingfirm. He opened a branch in Springfield, Massachusetts, in April of 1890, and used this facility to create a line of stock furniture, largely in the Colonial Revival style. While the pamphlet references the prominent families for whom the firm created custom creations, it primarily promotes the company’s new modestly priced line of furnishings.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Occasional Pieces of Choice and Useful Household Furniture, Trade Catalogue (Springfield, MA: George A. Schastey Company)Occasional Pieces of Choice and Useful Household Furniture, Trade Catalogue (Springfield, MA: George A. Schastey Company)Occasional Pieces of Choice and Useful Household Furniture, Trade Catalogue (Springfield, MA: George A. Schastey Company)Occasional Pieces of Choice and Useful Household Furniture, Trade Catalogue (Springfield, MA: George A. Schastey Company)Occasional Pieces of Choice and Useful Household Furniture, Trade Catalogue (Springfield, MA: George A. Schastey Company)

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.