Work table

This curious piece of nineteenth-century Australian furniture dates to the 1880s and is made of cedar and pine. It features a composite of amalgamated design motifs and cultural influences, including an Afghani man, depicted in wood and wearing traditional clothing, as the central support for the table. Arms upright, he holds up the work surface above. The table includes elaborate inlay around the edge with alternating drawers and glass panels containing decorative arrangements of shells and sand. The underside of the table’s lid is decorated with painted flowers and the top surface is a marquetry chessboard.

While it is unclear who made the work,  it is in the style of folk art made by German migrants during the nineteenth century in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. The work itself uses a strange and eclectic mix of imagery drawn from Australia’s interior and the ocean’s edge, an Afghani man, probably a reference to the cameleers who worked in central Australia at the time, and shells and sand from the beach.

Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design