Ivory Statuette of Nude Woman with Bound Feet
Date1880-1920
PeriodQing Dynasty
Place MadeZhangzhou or Guangzhou (?), China, Asia
MediumIvory
Dimensions5.2 x 3.5 x 3.4 cm (2 x 1 3/8 x 1 5/16 in.)
Credit LineGift of Dr. & Mrs. Horace Burr
Object number78.1.27
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextSmall Chinese ivory statuettes like this one have been generally understood as diagnostic dolls, to allow women to describe their symptoms to male doctors without referencing and pointing to their own bodies. However, a close look at these objects makes this improbable. The statuettes are clearly sensual, depicting young women in the nude, wearing nothing but bangles and earrings. The hair is pulled up, to show more skin, while their feet have been squeezed into small shoes – representative of the practice of foot binding. Although considered attractive, bound feet were extremely painful, as the feet had to be broken before being bound. As such, it seems more probable that these objects – which exist preponderantly in Western collections – were made for export, with a story that rendered ‘authentic’ what were mass-produced erotic statuettes.
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