Pair of ladies shoes (for Han Chinese)

1807

The size and shape of these women's shoes make it immediately clear that they were made for a Han Chinese, someone who belonged to the original inhabitants of China. Tying off the feet of young girls was a custom that originated in the tenth century. The result was that the feet remained extremely small, but also completely fused. The small feet were in keeping with the beauty ideal of Chinese women. It was common for the girls to make such shoes as part of their dowry. They were evidence of the bride's skill with needle and thread and served as gifts to her husband's female relatives at the wedding. The mandsjoes, who had held power in China since 1644, did not know of this custom.‖ Europeans were interested in this curious practice. Nieuhof writes about it in his account of the first embassy to the Chinese court in Peking. Dapper, in his book about the second Dutch embassy to Peking, gives a large number of Chinese garments in one entry, including small ladies' shoes that resemble these specimens by Royer. Staunton adds a very detailed illustration to his travel description of the English envoy in the years 1794-1795, showing how such shoes were worn and what the tied feet looked like. Staunton refrains from commenting on the description, although at the end of the eighteenth century this custom was disapproved of by Europeans.‖ In addition to these descriptions, interest is also evidenced by the many Chinese women's shoes found in old collections.