Shoes. Pair of red booties for “lily” (bound) feet. Red broadcloth uppers, embroidered in front with orchids, mandarin ducks, narcissus blossoms, a mouth organ, peaches, and a water bug. Center: white broadcloth in a wide, almost horseshoe-shaped border with an appliqued and embroidered bat. Border sapphire blue. Top edge of horseshoe a black and light blue tape. Bottom edge green and black over light blue. Emanating from heel end a 9.5 cm wide tab of red calico print, lined with off-white cotton cloth. Tab 13.5 cm high, rectangular. Function of its loops to the edge of the uppers unclear. Farther forward, two 41 cm long greyish green ties also serve an unknown purpose. Uppers unlined. Light green stitches from the outlines of the horseshoe border appear on the facing. The white upper sole is piped green at the heel end, then with the cross-section of a pink, dove grey, black and lemon-green silk ribbon. The white cover of the second sole, 1 cm thick at the heel, is embroidered with flowers and vines over the heel. The truncated tip decorated (like the end of a necktie) with an aquamarine tab. The center of the second sole is covered with lavender, pictured silk appliqued with a peach at the heel. On one sole, black broadcloth edges remain. The white, green-piped, quilted heel is glued and tacked to the second sole. Overall length of bootie: 12.5 cm; width of heel at bottom of uppers: 5 cm.
Donor:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection place:
Peking, Beijing province, China
Verbatim coll. place:
China. Given to Ilse Fang in Peking by Erich Wolters, antique dealer.
Culture or time period:
Manchu people and Qing dynasty (1644–1912 AD)
Collector:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection date:
1945
Materials:
Cotton (textile) and Silk
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Embroidery (visual works) and Shoes (footwear)
Function:
2.4 Fine Clothes and Accoutrements not used exclusively for status or religious purposes
Production date:
Manchu Dynasty
Accession date:
December 15, 1998
Context of use:
Shoes for lily feet. Manchu Dynasty, 1644-1911.
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Dimensions:
width 5 centimeters and Overall length— length 12.5 centimeters