Pair of shoes, embroidered silk, China

Pair of Southern (Jiangsu or Zhejiang region)-style shoes for women with bound feet, in pale red silk satin with intricate all-over embroidery on upper. Low-heeled pumps with shallow vamp, gentle concave decorated heels, with cotton-covered soles, possibly made of two separate wooden pieces.

Bequeathed by H.S. Ashbee

Bequeathed by Mr. H. S. Ashbee, accessioned in 1901. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
According to Dorothy Ko, the Chinese used a variety of names to refer to shoes for bound feet - including arched shoes (gongxie), embroidered slippers (xiuxie), and gilded lilies (jinlian, which also refers to the bound feet in particular and to the customs associated with footbinding in general). In her book, she has adopted a modern English term, lotus shoes. Largely handmade at home (unless it requires metal, leather or wooden parts) the decorated motifs of these shoes often symbolised fertility, longevity, happiness, wealth and success. Shoes differed in types (indoor, outdoor, sleeping, or funerary), styles (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shanxi, Shandong, Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan), materials (cotton, silk, felt, bamboo, wood, etc.), artisanship and structure that could affect the body and gait of the wearer. Apart from embodying the material and bodily experiences of the makers and wearers, they are important representations of feminine beauty, sensuality, cultural identity, social status and character of the female user. They were largely worn by women of the upper class elite up till the 17th-18th century until they became truly widespread from the 19th century onwards.

This shoe's gentle concave decorated heel, intricate all-over embroidery on the upper and shallow vamp are features that distinguished Southern-style shoes i.e. Jiangsu or Zhejiang region. Its fabric-covered sole indicates that the pair is intended to be worn indoors.

Soiled and worn.;On display in the V&A exhibition, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain between 13 June 215 – 31 January 216.;

324-1901