A handsome English children's correction chair from the Georgian era, featuring a bowed back and turned supports with fine patination to the wood, and a shaped caned seat in excellent antique condition.

These deportment or correction chairs are also known as the Astley Cooper chairs. It was the invention of Sir Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841), a surgeon and anatomist. He developed it to correct faulty posture in children: the design of the chair forces children to sit on it correctly.

Good posture meant keeping a straight back and upright head, and moving in a dignified and elegant way. It was considered very important, partly for medical reasons but also for discipline.