Beaded and embroidered Batavian shoes

This pair of beaded and embroidered shoes is decorated on its front by a large blue butterfly. Pairs of butterflies are important symbols for a wedding as they represent conjugal felicity in Chinese art. Such shoes are also known as kasut mote (mote for beads). The borders of the shoes are decorated with the Chinese key fret pattern, a design often found on furniture and porcelain.These “Chinese-style” shoes were not worn exclusively by the Peranakan Chinese, but instead were worn by other regional communities in the East Indies. They demonstrate the share material culture of the region and the cross-cultural interactions between communities contributing the development of a Peranakan-style of embroidery in the Indies.

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