The Stein Collection
- Object:
- Place of origin:
Mingoi, China (excavated)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
- Credit Line:
Stein Textile Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India.
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Image in copyright
These remains of a string sandal were recovered from the site of Mingoi. This Buddhist shrine dates from the 4th to the 8th century AD.
The site is part of an area of Central Asia we now call the Silk Road. This series of overland trade routes crossed Asia from China to Europe. The most notable item traded was silk, but the Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. While silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism travelled east, entering China from India.
The explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) brought this piece back from Central Asia. The V&A has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century.
Physical description
Fragments of a string shoe in monochrome buff plant fibre comprising part of the sole and upper, most of which has become detached from the former.
Place of Origin
Mingoi, China (excavated)
Date
300-800 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Plant fibre and string
Dimensions
Length: 15 cm sole, Width: 8 cm sole
Object history note
Attached to shoe is a rectangular tag label showing Stein number possibly in Stein's handwriting or that of his assistant, Miss F M G Lorimer.
Historical context note
Mingoi is located in the foothills of the Tianshan mountain range, on the northern Silk Road. Over a hundred Buddhist cave temples lend the site its name Mingoi, "The Thousand Dwellings". Stein explored a number of shrines here and found remains of colossal statues, fantastic carvings in wood, paintings and stucco reliefs. Depicted on the walls of the caves were Buddha legends, garlands of flowers, swags and tassels, fantastic canopies and mythological beasts. Stein found much evidence that the site had been occupied during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). Many Chinese coins, dating later than the eight century, had been left as votive offerings. Uygur manuscripts and graffiti indicated that the site had been occupied while the Uygurs controlled the region in the ninth to tenth century. A large amount of fallen brickwork appeared to have been hardened by burning; evidence that the site had been consumed in a large blaze in the second half of the tenth century. The caves also yielded much information about textiles of the period. Many statues were clothed in patterned and embroidered garments of Chinese silk. At their bases, Stein found votive rags of silk and linen. The V&A holds, on loan, several textiles from Mingoi, including plant fibres; plain and pattern woven silk, and also a number of terracotta heads of bodhisattva.
Descriptive line
Remains of a string sandal.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Stein, Aurel, Serindia: Detailed Report of Exploration in Central Asia and Westernmost China Carried Out and Described Under the Orders of H.M Indian Government , 5 vols (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1921), vol. III, p. 1223.
Associated names
Stein, Marc Aurel (Sir)
Materials
Plant fibre
Categories
Archaeology; Footwear
Collection code
EAS
