Homepage

Record

CollectionABDUA University of Aberdeen, Human Culture Collection
Object NameHuman Remains (bound left foot)
Human tissue
Fluid-preserved specimen
Object NumberABDUA:64997
Other NumberC257
Other Number TypeOld Number
Brief DescriptionFluid/ wet specimen of a Chinese woman's left foot, preserved in formalin inside a contemporary perspex display container. This was probably presented to the museum, along with two plaster casts of the same feet, by Prof Robert Reid in 1907. Foot removed roughly 10-15cm above the ankle.
DimensionsW: 135 x L: 73 x H: 190mm
MaterialsHuman remains, human tissue, formalin, perspex
ConditionFair
Completenesscomplete
Associated Object NumberABDUA:60927, ABDAN:4517
Place KeyAsia, Southeast Asia, Singapore.
Field CollectorMiddleton, Dr. W. R. C.
Object History NotePreviously double-numbered as ABDUA:63772, but records now merged. 24/07/2025. H. Clarke.
Publication NoteReid, R W, 1912, Illustrated Catalogue of the Anthropological Museum, University of Aberdeen, p235.
Hopwood, A. (2025) Bound Feet at Aberdeen University: A History of Acquisition, Display, and Use. MA thesis, University of Aberdeen.
Aquisition SourceReid, Prof R. W.
Aquisition NoteDr Middleton describes the acquisition of the woman's feet in a letter to Professor Reid dated as "[She had] died of bubonic plague at the Infectious Diseases Hospital … he ‘got the feet at the PM [post-mortem], the body in such cases not being returned to her friends." - Hallam, Anatomy Museum, p. 226.
The woman’s age was thirty-one. She was a full-grown, stout woman, weighing about 11 stones and 5 feet 5 inches in height." - Proceedings of the Anatomical and Anthropological Society 1904-06 (Aberdeen University Press), p. 40.
Add to My Items

    Useful Links