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Buckle shoe from the Joseph Box collection
MadeThis object is part of
Parts of this object
Summary
Object No.
H4448-51Object Statement
Buckle shoe with buckle, part of Joseph Box collection, womens, silk / leather / hessian / metal / paper, maker unknown, England, c. 1735-1900Physical Description
Buckle shoe, womens, silk brocade / leather / hessian with buckle, gilded metal, maker unknown, England, c. 1735-1740 / date unknownWomens single straight buckle shoe of rand construction with needlepoint upcurved toe and covered Louis heel. Shoe consists of red and olive silk brocade upper featuring a high square cut tongue covered by rounded overlapping latchets which widen at the ends for the buckle, dog leg side seam and back seam. Silver braid covers the back seam and centre back heel cover with remains of similar up the centre front of the vamp. Upper lined in hessian and white leather, white kid and patterned silk. Brown leather insole extends to form a toe puff and the leather sole is white finished under the labels.
Gilded metal buckle with pitchfork. The high curve suggests it is not original to the shoe.
Marks
Identification label pasted on insole, handwritten text in ink, 'L.1 81/ Ladies shoes and / buckle, temp. George II / from Henry Buxton'Joseph Box collection label pasted on outsole, printed black text on paper label, 'From JOSEPH BOX, / BOOT MAKER BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENTS TO / H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES, / H.I.H. THE CROWN PRINCESS OF GERMANY AND / H.R.H. THE PRINCESS LOUIS OF HESSE, / 187, REGENT STREET, LONDON. Established...' label torn, numbers written in corner of label, RH top, printed text in black on pasted paper label, '128', perpendicular to main text, RH top in ink, '5'
Bateman collection label pasted adjacent to Box label, printed red text on paper 'BATEMAN/ COLLECTION', adjacent handwritten text in ink, 'L.1/ 81', paper label with typed text, 'This article has been treated / with Carboxymethylcellulose with 0.1% Mercuric Chloride' [the 0.1% has been crossed through in ink and changed to 2%], label with printed text, '81P Lady's high-heeled satin SHOE, with the original, (obscured).....George II'
Short URL
https://ma.as/239679Dimensions
Height
135 mmWidth
85 mmProduction
Made
Notes
This silk brocade buckle shoe made in England in around 1735-1740, featured in the Bethnal Green Museum Shoe Exhibition held in London, England in 1897 as exhibit 128. Described as, 'Shoe; upper and covering of heel of silk brocade,..........English George II (1727-1760), Box collection'.The buckle is similar to other buckles in the Box collection. They were possibly made in one lot for display purposes.
History
Owned
Notes
This silk brocade buckle shoe and buckle is part of the Museum's significant Joseph Box collection and featured in the Bethnal Green Museum Shoe Exhibition held in London, England in 1897 as exhibit 128. Described as, 'Shoe; upper and covering of heel of silk brocade,..........English George II (1727-1760), Box collection'; and Bateman Collection N.1 8.Joseph Box Ltd had its origins in a London shoemaking business established in 1808 by a 'ladies shoemaker' called James Sly. From 1816 Sly's apprentice was Robert Dixon Box, the fifteen-year-old son of a bankrupted Quaker attorney. Box was to become manager of the business when Sly died in 1826, and gained a reputation for fine shoemaking through its participation at international exhibitions and by obtaining Royal Warrants. The business became known as Joseph Box Ltd in 1862 after it was transferred to Robert's son, Joseph. Like his father, Joseph started in the trade at the age of 15, but retired at the relatively early age of 42 to enable his daughters to enter society. Although he transferred the business to his cousins the Box Kinghams in 1882, Joseph maintained an active interest in shoemaking through collecting. At the end of the century the business was later taken over by royal shoemakers Gundry & Sons, which was itself taken over by John Lobb Ltd some time after 1953.
The collection acquired by the Museum in 1942 was probably started by Robert Dixon and consolidated by Joseph Box and the Box Kinghams during the second half of the 1800s. It includes remnants of leather shoes from the Middle Ages found in English archaeological sites, intact European shoes from the 1600s onwards, 'foreign' shoes collected as 'curiosities' from around the world, shoe buckles and spurs, as well as documents relating to Joseph Box Ltd.
Footwear scholar, June Swann, former Keeper of the Boot and Shoe Collection at the Northampton Museum in England was invited to catalogue this very significant collection in 1993. A large selection was subsequently featured in the Museum's 1997 exhibition and accompanying publication 'Stepping out: three centuries of shoes'.
REF:
Mitchell, Louise, with Lindie Ward, 'Stepping out: three centuries of shoes', Powerhouse Publishing, Sydney, 1997
Cite this Object
Harvard
Buckle shoe from the Joseph Box collection 2022, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 5 June 2023, <https://ma.as/239679>Wikipedia
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