Piece of furniture is tops in school of fine art (4)
I believe the answer is:
sofa
'piece of furniture' is the definition.
(sofa is a kind of piece of furniture)
'school of fine art' is the wordplay.
'school' becomes 's'.
'of' becomes 'o'.
'fine art' becomes 'fa' (this might be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
's'+'o'+'fa'='SOFA'
'is tops in' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sofa that I've seen before include "Divan" , "Settee" , "Upholstered seating" , "Upholstered seat for two or more" , "Oafs (anag.)" .)