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Learning to walk in style, the 18thC way-

I came across this photograph today of a beautiful little baby-walker, made around 1715.  It works exactly as the modern plastic version does and they aren't particularly heavy either.  This is a very fine version by a skilled cabinet-maker, and would have been for a baby born to wealthy parents.  They are quite rare as pieces of furniture and turn up only occasionally.  They are usually purchased by collectors of 18thC curiosities.

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Comments (3)

Jan 27, 2010
Lucy Inglis said...
And no, it's not a commode. If it were a commode, it would be bigger, with no casters and straight legs and no marquetry crest.
Jan 27, 2010
crafthole said...
It is items like this that really bring home just how little we have changed and show that many things we would usually associate with the modern period have a long track record. They also put us in touch with the little touches of humanity in our past, which you can not appreciate through the once standard fare of histories of the great and not so good with strife, politics and economic reform.
Feb 14, 2010
 said...
I was astonished to see an illustration of a similar walker in the 15th century Hours of Catherine of Cleves currently on view at the Morgan Library in NY

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