Slipper chair c. 1760 - 1790

This slipper chair was anonymously crafted out of wood, likely sometime in the 18th century. Think about the lives of the women who would have used this chair; the low seat designed for ease while dressing, especially for those encumbered by the era’s restrictive fashions. Slipper chairs were often placed in bedchambers and dressing rooms, spaces of both privacy and preparation for the performance of femininity. While appearing delicate, the chair’s sturdy construction mirrors the complex roles women held within the domestic sphere. Consider also the hands that shaped this object. Was it crafted by a free artisan, or by enslaved labor, integral to the colonial economy that supported such refined domesticity? This chair invites us to reflect on the intertwined histories of comfort, gender, and labor, and the silent stories objects can tell.