Shoes

Details

Descriptive Terms

shoes (footwear)
brocade (textile)
stitching
silk (textile)
Shoe
Shoe

Label

Walk Right In 11/98-3/99 Many eighteenth-century shoes are called buckle shoes because a removable metal buckle was used to fasten the straps along the top. The high heel, round toe, angled side seams, and exhuberant floral pattern of this buckle shoe are characteristic of shoes made in the third quarter of the eighteenth century.
"Cherished Possessions": In eighteenth-century Boston, Massachusetts, the latest London fashions were readily available to those who could afford them. These brocade shoes were made in the section of London called Cheapside, known for its textile merchants and shoemakers. Like most shoes of the period, they have no right or left but were made to be interchangeable. The long tabs were intended to be fastened by buckles, which were worn like jewelry and could be transferred from one pair of shoes to another. Buckles could be set with diamonds for the wealthiest wearers, or, like these, made of paste. The original owner of these buckles, Prudence Jenkins, wore them at her wedding in 1778.

Additional Identification Number

1919.140AB

Maker

Jonathan Hose and Son (Maker)

Location of Origin

London, England

Dimensions

4 3/4 x 2 3/4 (HxW) (inches)

Credit Line

Gift of Miss Mary C. Wheelwright

Accession Number

1919.140AB

Places

London (Greater London, England, United Kingdom)