Object Story: Chip-carved Foot Warmer

This chip-carved wooden box served a very specific purpose. When it was made in the 1700s, there was very little heating outside the home. To stay warm during the winter in places like carriages and public buildings, people brought their own individual heating systems, like this foot warmer. Inside the foot warmer is a cup for hot coals. The hot coals produce heat that radiates from the box and keeps the owner’s feet warm during freezing winters. The iron carrying handle allowed it to be portable. The footwarmer could have been just a basic box with small openings to release the heat; instead, the craftsman embellished it with panels of wood carved with elaborate geometric shapes and what appears to be corn stalks.

Questions for Discussion

• Do these carved details make you want to look at the foot warmer more?
• Why would someone want to put designs on an object that just needs to serve the purpose of providing heat?