Child’s high chair, ash turned to simulate bamboo with caned seat.
Identifier
FPF272
Title
Child’s high chair, ash turned to simulate bamboo with caned seat.
Date
1830-1850.
Description
A child’s high chair, ash turned to simulate bamboo, with a caned seat.
Full Description
This child’s high chair is made of ash turned to simulate bamboo. The back posts are joined by two double rails each with two turned balls, and a single rail below. The back legs are continuous with the posts. The seat is a narrow oval frame with a caned centre. All four legs are splayed with flared toes; the legs are joined by turned stretchers, pairs at the sides and singles to the front and back. The chair is stained and grained to give the appearance of rosewood.
This form of high-chair was designed in c.1810 by Sir Astley Cooper of Cambridge (1768-1841), a notable physician, both to allow a child to sit at a dining table and to encourage good posture. Such chairs were sometimes referred to as deportment or correction chairs because they could be used to force a child to sit still or risk falling off.
In this case the chair is too finely made and detailed for punishment to have been the primary purpose. It was probably intended for use in a dining room alongside other rosewood chairs and furniture. A painting by W.P. Frith, Many Happy Returns of the Day, dated 1856, shows a well-to-do, middle-class family celebrating a child’s birthday at a dining table, and two of the children are seated on high-chairs similar to this, although a little later in date.
This form of high-chair was designed in c.1810 by Sir Astley Cooper of Cambridge (1768-1841), a notable physician, both to allow a child to sit at a dining table and to encourage good posture. Such chairs were sometimes referred to as deportment or correction chairs because they could be used to force a child to sit still or risk falling off.
In this case the chair is too finely made and detailed for punishment to have been the primary purpose. It was probably intended for use in a dining room alongside other rosewood chairs and furniture. A painting by W.P. Frith, Many Happy Returns of the Day, dated 1856, shows a well-to-do, middle-class family celebrating a child’s birthday at a dining table, and two of the children are seated on high-chairs similar to this, although a little later in date.
Condition
One stretcher has been replaced. The front stretcher is very worn from being used as a footrest.
The seat has been re-caned.
The seat has been re-caned.
Materials
Ash.
Cane.
Cane.
Physical Dimensions
H. 96
W. 30
D. 28
W. 30
D. 28
Parker Numbers
4160
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons on 26 March 1918 from Young for 10 shillings.
Notes
The oil painting by William Powell Frith (1819-1909), Many Happy Returns of the Day, 1856, Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, is illustrated and described in Home and Garden, Paintings and Drawing of English, middle-class, urban domestic spaces, Geffrye Museum, 2003, p. 164.
There is a similar chair in the V&A, also faux bamboo, c. 1835, accession number W.80-1929 See: Chair | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections
There is a similar chair in the V&A, also faux bamboo, c. 1835, accession number W.80-1929 See: Chair | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections
