Schaukelwagen
Play Furniture
ca. 1950 (made)
ca. 1950 (made)
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| Place of origin |
Children have long had a tendency to subvert the functions of furniture for their own purposes, notably as hiding place; playspace, in the case of larger pieces such as wardrobes; or as a prompt for imaginative transformation, such as inverting a stool to make a bed for a toy.
The idea that furniture specifically designed for them might combine functionality with purpose-built play value steadily gained hold during the 19th and 20th centuries, with the introduction of play trays on high chairs, and hidden compartments in storage systems for example. This chair can not only be used as a cart or rocking chair just by turning it the other way up, it also lends itself to the role play of driving a real car, and could be turned on its side to make a cage-like structure for toy zoo animals.
The idea that furniture specifically designed for them might combine functionality with purpose-built play value steadily gained hold during the 19th and 20th centuries, with the introduction of play trays on high chairs, and hidden compartments in storage systems for example. This chair can not only be used as a cart or rocking chair just by turning it the other way up, it also lends itself to the role play of driving a real car, and could be turned on its side to make a cage-like structure for toy zoo animals.
Object details
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| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Laminated beech frame, moulded birch plywood seat, lacquered rubber-edged wheels |
| Brief description | Piece of wooden play furniture to rock or push; designed by Hans Brockhage and Erwin Andrä; made in Germany by Siegfried Lenz Bergghieszhübel ca. 1950 |
| Physical description | Piece of wooden play furniture which has a central seat and can be pushed on wheels or rocked. It has an angled reversible seat mounted on a four-wheeled chassis, beneath an arched and slatted framework which suggests the lines of a Volkswagen car. If the piece is turned upside down it becomes a rocking chair. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Unlimited edition |
| Object history | Bought at The Interior Sales of 27-28 September 2006, Christie's South Kensington, Lot 735 |
| Historical context | The Schaukelwagen, or 'Rocking Car,' was designed by Hans Brockhage in collaboration with Erwn Andra whilst a student at the Hochschule für Werkkunst Dresden, where he studied under the tutorship of, amongst others, Mart Stam and Marianne Brandt. Brockhage supposedly began with the basic idea of a rocking horse. Mart Stam was said to have commented that 'when the horse falls over, the horse is dead. You must make horse that isn’t dead when it fall over' |
| Production | The design is said to have been a collaborative effort of Hans Brockhage and Erwin Andrä, developed in a class run by the architect and designer Mart Stam (1899-1986) at the Werkkunstschule, Dresden. Schaukelwagen was never mass produced. It was available firstly through VEB Holzspielwarenwerke, Ohrdruf and later through the carpentry firm Gottfried Lenz in Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel. There was also a contemporary version in metal |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Children have long had a tendency to subvert the functions of furniture for their own purposes, notably as hiding place; playspace, in the case of larger pieces such as wardrobes; or as a prompt for imaginative transformation, such as inverting a stool to make a bed for a toy. The idea that furniture specifically designed for them might combine functionality with purpose-built play value steadily gained hold during the 19th and 20th centuries, with the introduction of play trays on high chairs, and hidden compartments in storage systems for example. This chair can not only be used as a cart or rocking chair just by turning it the other way up, it also lends itself to the role play of driving a real car, and could be turned on its side to make a cage-like structure for toy zoo animals. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | B.21-2006 |
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| Record created | June 29, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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