Chinese Women
Attributed to
John Thomson
(Scottish, 1837 - 1921)
Dateca. 1870
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 3 7/16 × 2 1/8 inches (8.69 × 5.41 cm)
Mount: 4 1/8 × 2 7/16 inches (10.49 × 6.15 cm)
Mount: 4 1/8 × 2 7/16 inches (10.49 × 6.15 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2015.67.76
Signednone
InscribedPrinted captions on paper, attached to mount verso, in black type: “Chinese Women. / Although the distinction between the / size of the feet seems to constitute / "Cast" among Chinese women, yet the / dominant race of the Empire--the Man- / chu Tartars do not allow their women / to bind or cramp their feet.--It pre- / cludes a beauty from entering the / Imperial harem, and it is commonly / believed that the penalty is instant death / for any woman with cramped feet to / enter the Imperial palace at Pekin.-- / [¶] Cramping the feet is generally com- / menced at the age of five or six years, / and the genteel shape is attained after / about three years careful bandaging if / properly attended to--circulation by / that time has become deadened, and by / the bandages being always afterwards / kept on, sensation seems to be lost, and / very little pain or discomfort beyond the / want of freedom in action is experienc- ed.--"
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionHand colored image of two women standing in front of a screen wearing nice garments. One woman's jacket is trimmed with fringe and the other woman's jacket is embellished on the sleeves as well as on the headdress - she also appears to have tiny, possibly bound, feet.
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