Women's Formal Slippers, about 1840

The label on the slippers indicates a Paris maker known as Este. Labels from the French maker Este (later Viault-Este) are the single most common type found in shoes surviving from this era. They usually appear in plain black or white satin heelless slippers of about 1835-1865 with a tiny bow at the throat (sometimes obscured by a more elaborate rosette added later). The firm is first listed in Bottin's "Almanach du Commerce" in 1821, under "Bottiers," as "Este, pour Dames, rue de la Paix 13." V…