What is this peculiar object on the verandah floor, in front of the shoes of Mama?

Could be anything. Perhaps a lump of clay.

It seems to be wearing boots.

I find myself putting words to the expressions on the faces of the people.

A house elf?
Garden gnome?
A large poop in the shape of the baby Jesus?
Dinner?

What I am getting from the photo is that it is set in California somewhere, possibly San Francisco.
I’m also getting the impression that it is not a happy snap, the woman has a painting in her hands suggesting that someone may have died.
And they are not poor by the standards of the day but impoverished by our current standards because time and Capitalism has lifted a lot of the world out of the privations they once endured, no they live in a highrise tenament there overlooking the city and can afford to have their photo taken.
The thing on the floor looks like an early grestantalet but without the traditional lace.

You might be right, PWM. I think I once saw a grestantalet, but with laces.

kii said:

You might be right, PWM. I think I once saw a grestantalet, but with laces.

Is that the correct spelling?

kii said:

A house elf?
Garden gnome?
A large poop in the shape of the baby Jesus?
Dinner?

An Imperial Storm-trooper doll?

That picture was taken by Jack Delano in 1940. It shows a Polish family living in Pennsylvania, USA.

Here is a bigger version of that image. http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/wallpaper/polish_family_living_on_high_street_in_mauch_chunk_pennsylvania_resolution_desktop_1300×1327_wallpaper-353129.jpg

Here is a high resolution (20MB) tiff from the original negative.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/fsa/8c28000/8c28700/8c28740u.tif