Shoe Question (Oh Jonathan ...!!!)

I picked these up at a yard sale. The woman said they were cleaning out her grandmother's house and she thought they were from Finland.

Are they strictly decorative? They are very stiff. And quite petite - about nine inches back heel to front curl of toe.

They look like they have some age?

 

They are Persian but I can't be more specific because I never found examples that were identified to a town or specific region. They are definitely east of Turkey, north of Saudi Arabia, west of Afghanistan, and south of Uzbekistan - essentially the area of modern day Iran. Worn for horseback riding (thus the heels), and probably dating from the early 20th or late 19th century. The leather has red rot (typical of vegetable tanned leather dating after 1840 and before 1920.

 

THANK YOU Jonathan. So much for coming from Finland! The "red rot" is in the leather I guess, as there's no appearance of any kind of rot or "devils dust" - but the leather is very stiff. Are the soles sewn on (It looks like white thread) rather than cobbled together with shoe nails? That's what made me think they were decorative.

 

Thank you MS. So much to learn, so many informed members!