Shoes

Museum number:
9-21283a,b
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm210921283a@2cb
Alternate number:
V - 12 (original number)
Accession number:
Acc.4697
Description:
Pair of booties for “lily” (bound) feet. Richly decorated black satin uppers. Sides embroidered with rocks, flowers, birds, bamboo, a butterfly, and a coin, in satin, stem, and split stitch in white, violet, and green shades. Front triangle: apricot-colored satin, embroidered with a daisy in the same shades. Triangle framed by woven borders, 1.2 cm wide. Above satin, a 2.2 cm wide border. It descends at the heel, to accomodate the heel-slit for putting on the bootie. Upper edge covered with faded turquoise satin. Slit secured with a knot of crimson, triple-cord strands. Uppers padded and lined with white cotton cloth. A grey, patterned cotton fabric covers the piping between uppers and sole. Whitened thick sole tapers off toward the tip, is 1.6 cm high at the heel; covered underneath with a red-bordered white cotton cloth, the seam concealed with a black tape decorated with a narcissus-blossom pattern. Tip and heel reinforced with nailed on pieces of leather. Tip stitched onto thick sole. Inner edges cut in lotus-petal shape. Sole 15 cm long; greatest height of standing bootie: 13 cm; length of top opening: 13.4 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:
Chinese
Collector:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection date:
1944
Materials:
Cotton (textile), Leather, and Satin
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:
First half of 20th century
Accession date:
December 15, 1998
Context of use:
Shoes for bound feet. First half of 20th century. Fide: Ilse M. Fang, 8/28/2001: Because of the painfulness of walking on bound feet, shoes needed to be soft.
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Dimensions:
Length, sole— length 15 centimeters, Length, top opening— length 13.4 centimeters, and Greatest height, standing— height 13 centimeters
Images:
Hearst Museum object titled Shoes, accession number 9-21283a,b, described as Pair of booties for “lily” (bound) feet. Richly decorated black satin uppers. Sides embroidered with rocks, flowers, birds, bamboo, a butterfly, and a coin, in satin, stem, and split stitch in white, violet, and green shades. Front triangle: apricot-colored satin, embroidered with a daisy in the same shades. Triangle framed by woven borders, 1.2 cm wide. Above satin, a 2.2 cm wide border. It descends at the heel, to accomodate the heel-slit for putting on the bootie. Upper edge covered with faded turquoise satin. Slit secured with a knot of crimson, triple-cord strands. Uppers padded and lined with white cotton cloth. A grey, patterned cotton fabric covers the piping between uppers and sole. Whitened thick sole tapers off toward the tip, is 1.6 cm high at the heel; covered underneath with a red-bordered white cotton cloth, the seam concealed with a black tape decorated with a narcissus-blossom pattern. Tip and heel reinforced with nailed on pieces of leather. Tip stitched onto thick sole. Inner edges cut in lotus-petal shape. Sole 15 cm long; greatest height of standing bootie: 13 cm; length of top opening: 13.4 cm.

Tools