Description
Dress accessory, toggle, in the shape of a man's shoe with a very thick 'platform' sole, wood, maker unknown, China, c. 1700-1940
Solid bo-coloured rectangular wooden block, carved into the form of a Chinese man's shoe with thick 'platform' sole and decorated with darker coloured swirls around sides. Worked with raised bands along the vamp and around the upper opening, incised scrolls along the sides - all with a dark stain to accentuate the design.
Hole penetrates through middle of toggle from top of shoe through to the base, providing the attachment.
Toggles functioned as weights to counterbalance dress accessories such as tobacco pouches.
Significance statement
Chinese belt toggles called 'zhuizi' are small carved ornaments used as counterweights on the cords of pipe bags and other small bags which were usually hung on men's belts.
Chinese clothes were not well provided with pockets, so bags which could be suspended from a belt were useful articles of attire. In order to fulfil its primary purpose of securing things to a belt, a toggle must have what the Chinese called a 'string eye', which could pass a string or cord.
Toggle wearing disappeared from China in the 1940s, when western style clothing replaced traditional clothing.
Production notes
In North China, the word for shoe is pronounced 'hsieh', which has the same pronunciation as "to agree" and "to harmonise together." Hence, a pair of shoes can be symbolic of a harmonious married couple.
In fact, it is an auspicious wish on behalf of a married couple that they may "walk together to old age."
Another pun is that the pronunciation of shoe is also the same as for 'children'. The latter pun may have given rise to a number of clever variations by Chinese folk artists, including toggle carvers.
In Central China, the bride and groom exchange shoes, hereby expressing the wish that both live together to a ripe old age.
(reference)
Cammann, Schuyler, Substance and Symbol in Chinese Toggles, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962, London, pp.105-107.
History notes
This toggle is part of a group that was collected in Peking by Hedda and Alastair Morrison between 1940 and 1942. Most of them were purchased from markets outside Chongwenmen Gate, and in Liulichang, the antiques street.
Credit line
Gift of Mr Alastair Morrison, 1992
Design marks
The remains of an adhered paper sticker with Chinese characters is visible on the sole.
Registration number
92/555
