1600 Pair of Backless Chopines. Pine-wood covered with punched kid leather. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk.

Definition Chopine: Women’s platform shoes worn in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Used as a patten, clog, or evershoe to protect shoes and dresses from mud and street soil. Worn in Venice by courtesans and patrician women from 1400-1700.

These chopines are made of pine-wood. The wood is covered in kid leather with punched decoration and figured silk underlay. This pair are fairly modest. More extreme versions were over 50 cms high. Chopines were based on the shoes worn at Turkish baths. They were first worn by Venetian prostitutes and fashionable Venetian aristocrats then adopted them. The chopine was originally a form of overshoe, which is why it has no back. Later versions could be worn as either overshoes or on their own.