Textile fragments including remains of felt footwear.

Various textile fragments tied together with Stein label, including pieces of braided brown and cream wool, pieces of monochrome plain weave buff unidentified plant fibre with some remains of stitching, one piece of monochrome plain weave buff silk, fragmentary pieces of buff felt and the remains of buff felt footwear consisting of sole and vamp piece stitched together.

Stein Textile Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India.

Attached to fragments is a circular tag label that would have shown Stein number possibly in Stein's handwriting or that of his assistant, Miss F M G Lorimer but now illegible through corrosion.

The Limes are a line of defensive walls and beacon towers north of Dunhuang. They extend the wall completed by Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (259-210 BC) in 214 BC as a barrier against the Xiongnu. Under the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) the walls were carried 1,000 miles to the west, to the easternmost edge of the Tarim Basin. The Limes protected China's trade and military colonies and served as a base for expansion into Central Asia. They were made of stamped clay and gravel, alternating with layers with wood, to protect against corrosion by wind-blown sand. They were completed in less than a century with water carried over huge distances. Behind the walls lay a series of watchtowers. These housed small numbers of soldiers who watched the desert and signalled to armies stationed at nearby Dunhuang through a system of couriers and fire signals. Within the towers Stein found an astounding range of artefacts, which provide a glimpse of garrison life and military operations under the Han empire, including bronze mirrors, coarse pottery, tools, leather armour, weapons, shoes, and clothing. Ancient documents included personal letters on silk and wood; military directives and supply lists; and treatises on a range of subjects, including medicine and astrology. The V&A holds, on loan, several utilitarian textile fragments, parts of shoes and several pottery shards from the sites, dating from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).

These fragments are similar to those found at the Limes Watchtowers, although its Stein number is now illegible.

These fragments are of plain woven plant fibre, braided wool and felt. They include the remains of a piece of felt footwear. The original use of most of them is unclear, although they probably had a practical or useful purpose. They were probably recovered from the sites called The Limes Watchtowers. This line of fortified encampments dates from 200 BC to AD 400 and was designed to ensure the safe transit of goods across the area.

The sites are 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. Camels and horses were used as pack animals and merchants passed the goods from oasis to oasis. 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 these fragments back from Central Asia. The V&A has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.

LOAN:STEIN.168