Description:
Pair of ladies' slippers with twill weave or 4:1 satin weave silk uppers heavily embroidered with polychrome silk, lined with linen/cotton plain weave lining. These shoes were likely made in China, and assembled with flat brown leather soles in the United States or England. A label that came with the slippers reads: "Allegedly made in China for ladies of Salem." Shoes and slippers, predominately for women, formed part of early cargoes shipped to America. Cargo lists for the "Empress of China" included "six pr sattin shoes Ladies" among the personal purchases of Capt. John Green. Research by Nancy Davis shows that imports of Chinese shoes into the United States peaked between 1812 and 1818, but by the end of the 1840s, trade had greatly declined. The development of the American shoe industry probably accounts for this change, but it also reflects the quality of the Chinese shoe itself. John R. Morrison wrote in the "Chinese Commercial Guide" (Macao, 1844) that "shoes are seldom exported for they are of porous and weak leather." Morrison further explained that the Chinese tanning process used urine and salt peter, which created extremely poor quality leather. According to Morrison, shoes cost 50 cents to $1.25 per pair. This pair of slippers circumvented the problem of using Chinese leather by attaching Chinese-made plain weave silk uppers to sturdy leather soles from either the United States or England. These slippers, ornamented with an embroidery of Peking knots in polychrome floral sprays, were best suited for wearing indoors.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+59.216 |
