Elizabeth Sharrett is PhD student at the Shakespeare Institute.
“Pray you, sit down,
For now we sit to chat as well as eat.” Lucentio, The Taming of the Shrew 5.2.10-11
“Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourished.” Lucius, Titus Andronicus 5.1.
“it lives by that which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.” Antony, Antony and Cleopatra 2.7.
Continuing with the theme of childhood, today’s object is an elaborately turned child’s high chair which can normally be seen on display at Hall’s Croft. The chair is made of ash and probably dates between 1580 and 1640. Its impressive turned decoration includes a crest of alternating pinnacles and buttons, and is supported by five uprights connected by eight reels with buttons and free rings. A true tactile delight for grabby hands at the table!
Turning as a form of furniture embellishment increased in popularity towards the end of the sixteenth century. Once constructed by a joiner, a turner would shape the wood of the chair with a lathe (similar to a potter’s wheel), which was powered by the pumping of a treadle, or lever, by the craftsman’s foot. High chairs probably did not include crossbars to secure squirming children, but would have been pushed up to the heavy tabletop, with the legs of the chair splayed to increase stability.
The chair’s functionality might suggest that toddlers may have taken their meals at the same time as the rest of the family. Their proximity to the table, then, becomes important, as they were not set apart from the company of the meal, but ate right alongside, inevitably learning from the older members of the family. As was previously discussed in Victoria Jackson’s post on the portrait of a family at a table, also found at Hall’s Croft, familial hierarchy was of utmost importance in early modern England. Meal times were a daily opportunity for the visual reinforcement of this household structure, and were a time of spiritual, as well as physical nourishment. The inclusion of even the smallest members in this activity speaks to its significance.
In the standard work on Oak Furniture: The British Tradition, Victor Chinnery describes this specific chair as one of the finest extant examples of its kind, as it survives in impeccable condition, and, unlike most extant pieces, still retains the original footboard. It’s even more impressive in person.