Red Leather Baby Shoes; 1840-1849; American

Description from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Owing to their diminutive cuteness and sentimental connection to purity and innocence, baby shoes survive in family collections in great number. Although arresting to modern eyes, the original strong color, perfectly preserved on this pair of shoes, was not particularly uncommon in the 19th century. It is precisely this quality of surprise to current expectations (along with the very good general condition) that make these shoes of interest in a museum context.

Sketch 066: Baby Shoes; Metropolitan Museum of Art; 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