Slippers
Unknown Artist
ca. 1872
Medium
leather
Classification
Slippers
Culture
American
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of The Jason and Peggy Westerfield Collection, 1969
Accession Number
2009.300.3338a, b
Art Historical Context
These delicate leather slippers, crafted around 1872 by an unknown artisan, offer a glimpse into the everyday elegance of post-Civil War domestic life. Dating from the Gilded Age, when American fashion blended European influences with growing industrial innovation, these slippers likely served as comfortable house shoes for women at home. Made from finely worked leather—a durable, versatile medium prized for its moldability and longevity—their construction highlights skilled handcraftsmanship, such as precise stitching and subtle shaping to fit the foot. In the context of 19th-century America...