Woman s Footwear with Bandaged Feet China Circa 1900

Large enameled porcelain bowl with cloisonné decoration in the famille rose style of palace scenes. Very pretty and decorative. Apocryphal Qianlong mark on the underside. Qianlong is an 18th century Chinese emperor. He is the sixth emperor of the Qing dynasty. In addition to his own artistic practice, Qianlong combined his passion for art collecting...

Glazed ceramic vase from the Bien-hoa school, decorated with six sages of the Taoist tradition. The handles are in the shape of black enamelled elephant heads. The upper part of the ...

These dainty, pointed slippers, made of blue silk and embroidered with pink flowers, were shaped to resemble a lotus bud and enhanced the diminutive shape of bound feet. A practice that began in the Tang dynasty and reached the height of its popularity in the Qing dynasty, foot binding was a painful process intended to make a woman's feet as small as possible by restricting bone growth from an early age. The smaller the feet the more attractive and erotic they were, giving elite women a mark of elegance and a distinctive - albeit tortured - gait of small, light steps. These embroidered silk lotus slippers...

These pointed silk slippers are beautifully embroidered with colorful bats and golden coins, symbols of happiness and good luck, and were shaped to resemble a lotus bud to enhance one's bound feet. A practice that began in the Tang dynasty and reached the height of its popularity during the Qing dynasty, foot binding was a painful process intended to make a woman's feet as small as possible by restricting bone growth from an early age. The smaller the feet the more attractive and erotic they were, giving elite women a mark of elegance and a distinctive, albeit tortured, gait of small, light steps. These beautifully preserved lotus slippers...