Mandarin square; rank insignia; textile

Back one of a pair of rank badges, buzi, with couched gold- and silver-coloured metal-wrapped thread embroidery on a black silk satin ground to be sewn onto the back of a court surcoat. The textile square is backed on light blue tabby-woven silk. It depicts a bird (silver pheasant) standing with one claw on a rock with its wings spread. It is surrounded by water, flowers, clouds, four bats and other symbols, including a sword, fan, scroll, canopy, the Buddhist wheel of law, endless knot and double gourd. The sun has been filled with small red beads of coral or carnelian. The silver pheasant denotes that these are badges of a 5th rank civil official.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
1970.579ii
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 295 x 295 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
silk (textile); thread; beads (round objects); coral
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
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Collection Information

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