


A pair of mandarin squares or rank badges, buzi, made of silk and woven in tapestry or kesi or k'o-ssu slit tapestry technique. Each depicts an emblem of rank of a civil official: the egret, for an official of the sixth rank. The bird, woven predominantly in white, has the feathers of its outstretched wings and tail outlined in blue and blue legs and beak. It is standing on a rock, looking upwards towards a red sun in the top left hand corner. It is surrounded on a brown ground by clouds in tones of blue, and placed symmetrically at the top are two white bats Further symbols of good fortune include a fan, fish and a conch. The sea is depicted below using converging diagonal lines. The imagery is framed with a swastika-patterned border, worked in brown silk and metal-wrapped thread. The squares are lined with light blue tabby woven silk and appear to have been unpicked from the official's surcoat on which they would have once been worn, front and back.