Lotus shoes are specialized footwear that were worn by women in China who had bound feet. Foot binding was a popular beauty technique in the upper classes of the Song and Qing dynasties. Lotus shoes are designed to resemble a lotus bud and were traditionally constructed from fine cotton or silk. Nowadays foot binding is no longer practised in China, however, it was estimated that at the start of the 19th century, 40-50% of all Chinese women had bound feet. Perhaps that is why lotus shoes are such a common artefact in many museums or private collections.
This object is scanned by Redpath Museum, McGill University