Playpen

Object Name:

Playpen

Object ID:

2003.011

Date:

1790-1800

Description:

Playpen or Toddler's Walker, Federal style. Wood (probably maple, with pine bottom). Trapezoidal shape, with a wider square at the bottom and a narrower square at the bottom. Stiles in each corner, extend to form feet; stiles are square in cross-section, but rounded at the tops. Horizontal slats connect the stiles; four slats on each side (slats are rectangular in cross-section, and have beaded top and bottom edges), including top and bottom rails. Tray, with slanted bottom, on one side at top (several concentrations of nails on top edge of tray -- presumably these nails held/attached some feature to the playpen; nail holes also in tops of stiles). Coats of greenish blue and dark red paint visible underneath and inside. Mottled yellow/reddish paint on outside (possibly grained painting). The bottom inside edge is dark red, probably the original color. Pegged mortise and tenon construction, with dovetailed tray. However, horizontal rails on exterior of lower end are nailed in, using cut nails. These rails support the floor (made of two pine boards with cut-out corners) of the playpen. It is likely that the floor and the exterior slats may have been a later (c.1820s) addition, to what otherwise may have been a bottomless walker.

Material:

Wood
Metal

Dimensions:

H-23 W-22.5 D-22 inches

Provenance:

From the Walker family, Concord, NH. Belonged to the donor's mother, Josephine Walker Woodman. (Correspondence suggests that Josephine had dated this item to c.1730; however, it appears to be constructed with Federal Period stylistic elements, more consistent with late 18th- to early 19th-century furniture.)

Credit Line:

Gift of Timothy W. Woodman

People:

Woodman, Josephine Walker (1897-1976)