Shoes

Museum number:
9-21290a,b
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm210921290a@2cb
Alternate number:
V - 11 (original number)
Accession number:
Acc.4697
Description:
Pair of red booties for “lily” (bound) feet. Red broadcloth uppers embroidered with flowers and a butterfly at tip. Upper center white broadcloth in almost horseshoe-shaped border of the same material. Black tape appliqued in twisted chain pattern, framed by a black line. Top edged with navy blue, white and aquamarine tape; bottom with lavender, white and cobalt blue tape. Center stitched on with navy blue thread, through facing of uppers. No lining. Sharply pointed upper sole covered with pink fabric inside. Heel-end piped aquamarine, further forward with the cross-section of a navy blue, green, maize and red ribbon. Tip white. Second sole, 1.3 cm thick at the heel, covered with white cotton cloth and stitched to the upper one. The cut-off tip decorated with a flap like the end of a necktie: pale golden broadcloth embroidered with a green leaf and a pink, orange and red flower, quilted all over and tacked up with two white tacks. Center of second sole covered with cobalt blue, patterned broadcloth with appliqued narcissus blossom; on either side cerulian blue broadcloth, bordered and run through in a wave-line by a narrow appliqued lavender tape. Kidney-shaped heel is piped forest green, quilted white and glued and tacked on to the second sole. Overall length of bootie: 12.5 cm; width of heel at insole: 5 cm.
Donor:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection place:
China
Verbatim coll. place:
China. Purchased at Nanking flea market.
Culture or time period:
Chinese
Collector:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection date:
1945
Materials:
Cotton (textile)
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:
First half of 20th century. Fide: Ilse Fang, 8/28/1998: These haven’t been worn.
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Dimensions:
Second sole, at heel— height 1.3 centimeters, Heel width at insole— width 5 centimeters, and Overall length— length 12.5 centimeters
Images:
Hearst Museum object titled Shoes, accession number 9-21290a,b, described as Pair of red booties for “lily” (bound) feet. Red broadcloth uppers embroidered with flowers and a butterfly at tip. Upper center white broadcloth in almost horseshoe-shaped border of the same material. Black tape appliqued in twisted chain pattern, framed by a black line. Top edged with navy blue, white and aquamarine tape; bottom with lavender, white and cobalt blue tape. Center stitched on with navy blue thread, through facing of uppers. No lining. Sharply pointed upper sole covered with pink fabric inside. Heel-end piped aquamarine, further forward with the cross-section of a navy blue, green, maize and red ribbon. Tip white. Second sole, 1.3 cm thick at the heel, covered with white cotton cloth and stitched to the upper one. The cut-off tip decorated with a flap like the end of a necktie: pale golden broadcloth embroidered with a green leaf and a pink, orange and red flower, quilted all over and tacked up with two white tacks. Center of second sole covered with cobalt blue, patterned broadcloth with appliqued narcissus blossom; on either side cerulian blue broadcloth, bordered and run through in a wave-line by a narrow appliqued lavender tape. Kidney-shaped heel is piped forest green, quilted white and glued and tacked on to the second sole. Overall length of bootie: 12.5 cm; width of heel at insole: 5 cm.

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