Today's OED antedating: "piece of work"

Piece of work, slang, often pejorative, one conspicuous for a particular quality, ex fanciful Hamlet (II.ii.317) characterization ("piece," n., sec 7 (c), first use cited 1928): Book titled Forty Modern Fables, by George Ade, 1901, p 17: "One of the Girls was a grand little Piece of Work and she had a slew of uppetty-up accomplishments ... ."