This shoe is made of wool, unidentified plant fibre, felt and animal hair. It was recovered from the fort site of Mazartagh which dates from the 5th to the 11th century AD.
The site is part of an area now referred to as the Silk Road, a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia, from China to Europe. The most notable item traded was silk. Camels and horses were used as pack animals and merchants passed their goods from oasis to oasis. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas – while silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India in this way.
These fragments were brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862–1943). The Victoria and Albert Museum has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein at the beginning of the twentieth century. The textiles range in date from the second century BC to the twelfth century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.
Physical description
Shoe consisting of an upper made of plain woven buff wool, lined with thick buff and brown felt and seamed up the toe. The sole is of interwoven unidentified plant fibre and animal hair string. The heel has been strengthened by an external patch of yellow felt. Shoe fastening is a draw-string round the opening
Place of Origin
Mazartagh, China (excavated)
Date
8th century (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Plain woven wool, unidentified plant fibre, felt and animal hair string, and stitching
Dimensions
Length: 28.5 cm, Width: 13 cm, Height: 6.5 cm
Object history note
Attached to shoe is a circular tag label showing Stein number possibly in Stein's handwriting or that of his assistant, Miss F M G Lorimer.
Michael Ryder has identified the felted fibre as coming from fine-woolled sheep and the woven upper from camel outer hair.
Historical context note
The fort of Mazartagh lies in the western half of Taklamakan Desert, north of Khotan. Among the ruins, Stein found huge numbers of Tibetan documents on wood and paper devoted to military and administrative matters. Many of these dated from the eight century AD, when Tibetan armies conquered the region and occupied the fort. He also found string sandals, shoes made of felt, remnants of wool clothing and nets for fishing. Similar utilitarian textiles had appeared at the Dunhuang Limes, Miran Fort and other military sites. The V&A holds, on loan, several textile fragments from Mazartagh, including woven cotton, hemp string, netting, quilted wool and pieces of shoes.
Descriptive line
Shoe of wool, unidentified plant fibre, felt and animal hair
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Ryder, Michael. 'Ancient fibres from the Silk Route in Central Asia', Textiles Magazine. Manchester: Textile Institute, no 3, 1999.
Wilson, Verity. 'Early Textiles from Central Asia: Approaches to Study with reference to the Stein Loan Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London', Textile History 26 (1) . Devon: David & Charles/Pasold Research Fund Ltd, 1995, pp.23-52.
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. 1293.
Associated names
Stein, Marc Aurel (Sir)
Materials
Wool; Felt; Hair; Plant fibre
Techniques
Plain weave; Stitching; Felting
Categories
Archaeology; Textiles; Footwear
Collection code
EAS
