Indeed, everything associated with the
bound foot, including the sight of "three-inch lilies," the shoes (since the crippled feet were rarely seen au naturel), and the limp that resulted from the maiming were reported to excite the passion of Chinese men.
Yet the image of the
bound foot itself was contradictory, at once ethereal and bestial.
There are human body parts in jars, including examples of Siamese twins and a Chinese
bound foot, with specimens dating back almost to the college's founding in 1505.
Euphemized as the "golden lotus," "golden lily," "perfumed lily," "precious article," or "pure article," the
bound foot was created by tightly wrapping young girls' feet with bandages in a specific manner which turned the four small toes under the sole and drew the arch toward the heel (fig.