Object: Children chair - a walker

This child’s walking chair is a rare surviving sample of furniture designed in the 16th and 17th-century to help train or contain children. These were essential pieces of furniture both in the Netherlands and oversees in New Amsterdam, ensuring that infants were safely contained and kept away from danger while one was busy completing household tasks. This straight-forward wooden frame with wheels was the early 17th-century version of a walker, ideal for keeping the child safe while it practiced walking.

Demographics/Occupation:  Mother-motherhood