Albumen stereoview showing a comparison between the bound feet of a Chinese woman and the natural foot of a working woman. The mount is printed “A high caste Lady’s dainty ‘Lily Feet’ compared with working woman’s Foot – China,” and copyrighted 1900 by Underwood & Underwood. The paired images depict tightly bound feet positioned beside an unbound foot for scale and contrast, illustrating the physical effects of the traditional footbinding practice.
Such comparison stereoviews were produced around the turn of the twentieth century for educational and ethnographic viewing, often intended for Western audiences interested in foreign customs and social practices. The subject reflects contemporary documentary interest in Chinese footbinding during the late Qing period.
Cream mount with vertical publisher’s imprints for Underwood & Underwood, including Ottawa, Kansas; Toronto, Canada; New York; London; and Washington, D.C., along the edges, with the printed descriptive caption along the lower margin.
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