Chinese Toggle Depicting Shoes

Slippers with a pointed prow and a fringe of fine ribbed lines at the heel.

This toggle depicting shoes is from China, and dates to the 19th century. It is wood. Chinese decorative arts often use objects and their names as symbols, and a shoe or slipper is sometimes read as a pun on wishes for harmony. Briefly, a pair of low, deep-brown shoe forms with upturned pointed toes and shallow hollows on top. Radiating grooves fan out along the sides like a frill, and a small round hole pierces one of them. The surface is glossy and smooth from handling. It is 1.25 inches wide, 1.75 deep and 0.75 high.

Pointed toes, fancy trim, and not one step taken.