The Indian Slipper
Philadelphia: Charles J. Peterson, 1876. Color-printed embroidery pattern, image measuring 8.5 x 7 inches on sheet measuring 10.25 x 8.5 inches, printed recto only. Horizontal crease from folding, shallow chipping and closed tears to foot and righthand margin, not affecting image. Matted to 14 x 11.5 inches.
Color-printed embroidery pattern for “the Indian slipper,” a folding plate featured in Volume LXX of Peterson’s Ladies National Magazine, November 1876. Published in Philadelphia from 1842 to 1898, Peterson’s was the longest-running American women’s monthly of the nineteenth century. Each issue included a colored embroidery or crochet pattern “for slippers, sofa cushions, chair seats, &c. -- each of which at a retail store would cost Fifty Cents or more.” These floral slippers, a variation on traditional Native American moccasins, are equally influenced by the Victorian Arts & Crafts movement. Embroidery patterns like these were designed to be worked by women at home; once completed, the colorful wool uppers would be taken to a shoemaker for soling. A handsome example of decorative arts (and home economics) in nineteenth-century America.
Price: $100.00