Title
Pair of unsewn slippers faces
Year/Period
Late 19th-early 20th centuries
Region
Straits Settlements
Technique
Dimension
Object size: 32.5 x 21 cm
Accession No.
2005-01367
Collection of
This pair of unsewn slipper faces is an example of a category of Peranakan textile arts which involves metallic-thread embroidery. The mouse deer-like creatures seen on this pair of slipper faces were sewn using the free-standing embroidery method known in the Malay world as ‘atas timbul’ (loosely translated as ‘raised surface’). In this method, lengths of metallic thread are wound over sticks that are subsequently removed resulting in a pattern that resembles basket-weave. Slipper faces were then sent to Chinese cobblers to be cut out and made into shoes.
