This cute wooden chair has a door on the front that can be shut to enclose the lower half of a small child. The door is shaped to allow room for the child's legs and has a tray on top, perhaps for toys. The materials and style of the chair suggests that the person who made it lived in a rural community. The armrests make it look like an adult's seat.

In fact it is a type of toilet called a 'commode'. The child sits on a shelf which has a hole in it: underneath the hole a bucket was placed. Perhaps the child was not allowed out until he/she had completed the task! The lockable door preserved the young person's dignity.

The chair is a moveable, practical item that would have been very useful. It was painted so it could be cleaned easily. What first appears as an ordinary child's chair has a hidden purpose.

Toilets do not usually feature in art collections but are vital functional everyday items that tell us a great deal about how society changes. This commode is an interesting insight into how children lived two hundred years ago.