The State Hermitage acquired 47 pairs of men's, women's and children's shoes from the 1690s to the 1840s from the collection of Russian collector, researcher and publisher Nazim Sultanovich Mustafayev, says the museum’s website.
These samples, made in France, Great Britain, Prussia and the USA, quite fully illustrate the history of the development of shoemaking in Western Europe and North America over the course of a century and a half.
The rarest example of shoes that have survived to this day is a pair of shoes of a simple city woman made of black leather impregnated with a waterproof compound, with a massive metal buckle (France, 1770s).
Among the unique ones are a pair of children's shoes made of red leather, with spurs and lacing in the front, decorated with a gilded cord, lined with kid and silk, with the coat of arms of King Frederick William II embroidered on the vamp (Prussia, 1760-1770s).
Among the most valuable items are elegant ladies' mules made in France in the 1690s-1720s: with high heels, decorated with embroidery with metallic threads.
The purchased footwear items will be displayed both at permanent exhibitions (in the Main Museum Complex and the Costume Gallery at the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Center) and at temporary thematic exhibitions of the State Hermitage dedicated to the culture and art of the XNUMXth century.
Rating |