badge of office; badge container

Single-eye peacock feather plume, hualing, encased in a brown lacquered tubular box, which is ovoid in section. The case is inscribed in gold paint with 'dang chao yi pin' on one side, indicating it was conferred upon a first-rank official. The other side is decorated with a red and gold dragon chasing a flaming pearl. The case has fitting caps with string at both ends, each decorated in gold paint with a key-fret band on the side, with the shou character, meaning longevity, on the top. Plumes of this type were attached to an official court hat. It was conferred by the Emperor upon nobles and officials from the first down to the sixth rank for distinctive achievement.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
1970.458
Date
late Qing dynasty; 19th century
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 414 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
wood; lacquer; gilding; feather; string
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
In storage
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Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

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