Monkey Settee has become an iconic representation of Judy Kensley McKie’s body of work, for the ultimate incorporation of animal forms in her furniture designs, and for its combination of fluency in woodworking and bronze casting. As McKie’s woodworking career progressed, she moved from carving animals in relief onto the surfaces of cabinets and tables, to carving animals out of the body of the form itself, becoming the arms, legs and back structural supports of her designs, to fully realized animal sculptures incorporated into her designs that appear to be in movement, simultaneously living within the object and among its users. Among the most successful executions of her vision, clues of her research into ancient art, Art Deco aesthetics, and international cultures abound in Monkey Settee.

An example of Monkey Settee is in the permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.