Object Story: Chip-carved Foot Warmer

Brown wooden box foot-warmer with perforated star-shaped designs carved on its sides and top and a thin iron handle.

Brown wooden box foot-warmer with perforated star-shaped designs carved on its sides and top placed beside its cylindrical metal heating container used to hold hot coals.

Brown wooden box foot-warmer with perforated star-shaped designs on its sides and top with a panel open revealing its cylindrical metal heating element used for holding hot coals.

Overhead view of brown wooden box foot-warmer with perforated star-shaped designs carved into it and a thin iron handle.

Unrecorded artist (American), Chip-carved foot warmer, Eastern Massachusetts, ca. 1720, oak and iron. Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection, L2015.41.29

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?