Carriage
1775-1799 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This type of carriage, which has no safety straps, would have been built for a child who could sit up and had a good sense of balance. These carriages were often designed to be pulled rather than pushed, since they developed from horse-drawn carriages. Some children's carriages had two shafts for a pony; others, like the one seen here, had one, which would probably have been pulled by a servant.
Conservation work on the wheels has revealed that they were originally red and at some point in the nineteenth century were painted black. The black paint may have been applied out of respect for Prince Albert's death in 1861, but children's playthings and equipment were often repainted, and the change of colour may have been for convenience, or even caused by a lack of somebody with the necessary skill to replicate the original colour scheme.
Conservation work on the wheels has revealed that they were originally red and at some point in the nineteenth century were painted black. The black paint may have been applied out of respect for Prince Albert's death in 1861, but children's playthings and equipment were often repainted, and the change of colour may have been for convenience, or even caused by a lack of somebody with the necessary skill to replicate the original colour scheme.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Wood, leather, metal |
| Brief description | Child's carriage of wood painted black, with a seat upholstered in dark blue felt; England, 1775-1799 |
| Physical description | Child's four-wheeled carriage (phaeton) on a wooden chassis with a small cross bar at one end. The chassis and the single-shaft towing handle are painted black, the chassis with grey tracery. The chair-shaped wooden body of the carriage is slung from four metal C-springs by black leather straps fastening with metal buckles. The single seat is upholstered in dark blue felt, and a small platform is mounted behind it.. There was probably originally a folding hood, now missing, attached to a metal stud at each side of the seat front. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by John Gardner |
| Object history | Given by John Gardner of Little Coggeshall, Essex (RF 47/11191); lent to Batley Museum 1955-1963 (RF 55/2298) |
| Summary | This type of carriage, which has no safety straps, would have been built for a child who could sit up and had a good sense of balance. These carriages were often designed to be pulled rather than pushed, since they developed from horse-drawn carriages. Some children's carriages had two shafts for a pony; others, like the one seen here, had one, which would probably have been pulled by a servant. Conservation work on the wheels has revealed that they were originally red and at some point in the nineteenth century were painted black. The black paint may have been applied out of respect for Prince Albert's death in 1861, but children's playthings and equipment were often repainted, and the change of colour may have been for convenience, or even caused by a lack of somebody with the necessary skill to replicate the original colour scheme. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.45-1947 |
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| Record created | July 1, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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