Song Dynasty. 960-1279 A.D

China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou

L28cm, H7cm

With their curved toes raised to a point, these shoes are known as bow-shoes. It can be observed from the shapes that this pair was for bound feet. The history of foot binging among women in China is said to have started during the Five Dynasties period (10^th century A.D.), however, this pair is the earliest evidence ever found. Judging from the size of the shoes, it can be assumed that although the tradition of foot-binging had started at the time this pair was in use, the practice had not gone to such an extreme as it later did during the Qing Dynasty. The shoe face is of a yellow 4-doup-end luo gauze material, the lining is a plain silk tabby and the construction is sewing in cloth stitches. (XY)