Mexicolore logoMexicolore name

Aztec high-chair?

Aztec high-chair?

Aztec mother-child artefacts, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

This collection of mother-child related artefacts in the Sala Mexica (Aztecs Hall) of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City shows traditional baby-carrying baskets... (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

... and standing in the background what appears to be a high-chair! We certainly know that the Aztecs made and used chairs - the most famous being the icpalli or ‘throne’ reserved for emperors and guests of high honour. This appears to be evidence for the other extreme: a seat for a very young child to join the family at meal time. And why not? What do you think? Add your own comments to this page (click below)...

Read much more about traditional ways to carry a young child in our feature on the baby-basket (follow link below).

Photo by Ana Laura Landa/Mexicolore

The baby basket

Comments (3)

A

Albie

1st Aug 2012

High chairs are used around the world, why not by the Aztecs? Second guessing the usage of the chair seems silly, how can we believe what is written here?

M

Mexicolore

Blimey, keep your hair on! So sorry to have written something both shockingly obvious and shockingly unbelievable at the same time...

K

Katia of Tonkam

12th Aug 2011

Did the Aztecs sit seated on chairs at a table or did they sit a low table near the ground in daily life? If the latter is true then the high-chair probably would not be needed for a child.

M

Mexicolore

Furniture as we know it was, in Aztec homes, decidedly sparse! Most used the reed mat petate that they slept on at night as (folded up and placed on a low mound of earth) a seat during the day. There is some evidence for the use of (low) tables and, occasionally, (legless) wooden chairs, though this type of seating, known as icpalli, was generally restricted to nobles and rulers...

J

John Wood

27th Mar 2010

Dear Sir
There have been numerous examples of high chairs found in greece which date from the fifth century BC. I have seen a splendid example of a red figure vase with a child in a high chair seated next to his adoring mother. The vase is also from the fifth century BC.

M

Mexicolore

Great minds think alike! Thank you very much for this interesting observation comparing Old and New Worlds...

Aztec high-chair?

Aztec mother-child artefacts, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

More Aztec Artefacts

Artefacts in the Spotlight

Whole Archive at a Glance

Artefacts of the Week

Whole Archive at a Glance