Original bentwood, willow, and woven reed child’s high chair with integrated adjustable iron head clamp, accompanied by an unmounted period tintype of an infant photographed seated directly in the identical model chair. Ca. 1870s - 1880s. Chair measures approx. 38 in. high, 16 in. wide, and 17 in. deep; tintype approx. 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.

An exceedingly rare, fully intact piece of 19th-century photographic studio equipment illustrating the physical mechanics required to create infant portraiture. Constructed of bentwood uprights, woven wicker seat, flared splayed legs, and an openwork braided back, the chair features an authentic, period-mounted cast-iron posing headrest bolted directly through the woven reed splats. The clamp retains its original thumb-screw adjustment slides and dual fabric-padded crescent pincers designed to brace a child’s head motionless during long studio exposures. Accompanying the physical chair is an unmounted period tintype depicting a seated infant secured in an identical wicker high chair, showing how the apparatus was positioned just out of view behind the sitter’s ears and hair.

While free-standing cast-iron studio head clamps occasionally surface, purpose-built wicker posing chairs retaining their original integrated iron fixtures are rarely seen outide of prominent institutional colections.

ex-John S. Craig collection. Craig compiled the essential Craig's Daguerreian Registry.

[Photographic Studio Equipment, Studio Prop, Head Clamp, Posing Stand, Brady Stand, Wicker High Chair, Child Portraiture, Tintype, Material Culture, Wet Plate Photography, 19th Century Photography Apparatus, Daguerreian Era]

Very good condition. The wicker and bentwood frame remains structurally solid and rigid, showing light period paint wear, subtle reed breaks to the seat perimeter, and honest patina to the iron clamp mechanism. The accompanying tintype exhibits strong contrast with minor perimeter chips and corner bends along the edges.