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H4448-51 Buckle shoe with buckle, part of Joseph Box collection, womens, silk / leather / hessian / metal / paper, maker unknown, England, c. 1735-1900. Click to enlarge.

Buckle shoe from the Joseph Box collection

This silk brocade buckle shoe featured in the Bethnal Green Museum Shoe Exhibition held in London, England in 1897. The buckle and shoe come from an important collection of footwear and shoemaking objects thought to have been initiated by the London shoemaker, Robert Dixon Box, and consolidated by his son, Joseph Box and the Box Kingham family during the second half of the 1800s. The collection ranges from remnants of leather shoes from the Middle Ages found in English archaeological sites, to …

Summary

Object No.

H4448-51

Object Statement

Buckle shoe with buckle, part of Joseph Box collection, womens, silk / leather / hessian / metal / paper, maker unknown, England, c. 1735-1900

Physical Description

Buckle shoe, womens, silk brocade / leather / hessian with buckle, gilded metal, maker unknown, England, c. 1735-1740 / date unknown

Womens 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'

Dimensions

Height

135 mm

Width

85 mm

Cite this Object

Harvard

Buckle shoe from the Joseph Box collection 2022, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 25 March 2023, <https://ma.as/239679>

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://ma.as/239679 |title=Buckle shoe from the Joseph Box collection |author=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences |access-date=25 March 2023 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Australia}}