Brocade Shoes with Buckles

Shoemakers used to be called cordwainers. Winthrop Gray, who made these elaborate metallic and silk brocade shoes, was the son and brother of cordwainers from Lynn, Massachusetts. His label includes a symbol of his membership in the Freemasons, a fraternal organization. These shoes once belonged to Martha Stevens, a wealthy Dorchester widow who died in 1785.