Form: Rocking Chair
Age: Mid 20th century
Size: H. 28 x W. 19.5 x D. 27"
Weight: 13 pounds
Materials: Pine, paint
Provenance: Florida estate
Description: A rocker using the popular Humpty Dumpty theme, its back forming the torso, its arms forming the same supported by bent kneed upright supports. Sides of simulated brick walls with appliqued Humpty broken in half and having two uniformed men and a pony on both flanking sides. The whole poly-chromed in original paint surfaces.
Condition: Minor paint losses, some light discoloration, one knee has a repair. Solid, usable.
History: Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. Though not explicitly described, he is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from late eighteenth century England and the tune from 1870 in James William Elliott's National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs. Its origins are obscure and several theories have been advanced to suggest original meanings.The character of Humpty Dumpty was popularised in the United States by actor George L. Fox (1825–77). As a character and literary allusion he has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture, particularly Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1872). The rhyme is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No. 13026.