{"id":8278,"date":"2021-01-19T18:24:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T18:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/?post_type=bc_posts&p=8278"},"modified":"2021-01-27T13:18:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T13:18:46","slug":"daniels-robe-chinese-qing-dynasty-rank-badges","status":"publish","type":"bc_posts","link":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/bc_posts\/daniels-robe-chinese-qing-dynasty-rank-badges\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel’s Robe: Chinese Qing Dynasty Rank Badges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Collecting Chinese Qing Dynasty Rank Badges<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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BENJAMIN A. FARINA<\/h5>\n

Senior Vice President | Department Head<\/p>\n

Asian Arts<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Following Ming dynasty precedents, the Chinese government of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), promulgated a series of regulations in the 18th<\/sup>\u00a0century that codified a series of insignia to be applied to an outer coat, identifying the rank and government branch of the bearer.\u00a0 These insignia are commonly known as \u201cRank Badges\u201d.\u00a0 Given the small scale of these textiles (approximately 11\u201d x 11\u201d), and wide degree of variations due to bearer\u2019s rank, period and mode of execution, quality and rarity, these rank badges have been avidly collected for well over 100 years, offering a window into many aspects of Chinese culture of the past 250 years.<\/p>\n

There are three main categories of badges: those for the imperial court, the military administration, and the civil administration.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Badges for the imperial court, including the Emperor and his consorts, princes and highest rank officials bear a dragon, either in a roundel for the upper ranks or a square for the lower.\u00a0 These dragons are differentiated by the number of claws (five or less), whether the dragon is full face or in profile, and if there are accompanying symbols.\u00a0 An emperor\u2019s roundel, for example, may bear a five-clawed dragon, facing front, with a symbol of the sun above its head.<\/p>\n

There were nine military ranks, identified by various animals, mythical and otherwise.<\/strong>\u00a0 For example, the first rank badges bear a qilin, best described as a quadruped with dragon\u2019s head, scaled body, deer legs and flowing tail. The badges of the nine civil ranks bore various birds, the first rank bearing a Manchurian crane.\u00a0 In addition, there was a badge for the important position of the censor, with a lion-like quadruped with dragon\u2019s head bearing a single horn and bushy tail.<\/p>\n

These badges generally came in pairs, one for the divided front of the surcoat (the badge itself also divided), and one for the back of the coat.\u00a0 While badges are often sold separately, a pair may be considered more of a \u201ccomplete set\u201d.\u00a0 With regard to the emperor\u2019s roundels, and those of his sons, a full complement would consist of four.<\/p>\n

Badges were generally executed in needlework or tapestry weave (kesi) on a dark ground.\u00a0 The dragon, beast or bird would be centered, surrounded by scrollwork, clouds and\/or auspicious symbols, above stylized waves and rockwork, all within a stylized border of key-fret, scrollwork or additional auspicious symbols.<\/p>\n

Curious what your fine Asian antiques would bring at auction?<\/strong>\u00a0Consignments for our spring auction are now being accepted.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collecting Chinese Qing Dynasty Rank Badges BENJAMIN A. FARINA Senior Vice President | Department Head Asian Arts Following Ming dynasty precedents, the Chinese government of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), promulgated a series of regulations in the 18th\u00a0century that codified a series of insignia to be applied to an outer coat, identifying the rank and government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stc_notifier_status":"","_stc_notifier_sent_time":"","_stc_notifier_request":false,"_stc_notifier_prevent":false,"_stc_subscriber_keywords":"","_stc_subscriber_search_areas":"","nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"authors":[],"root_bruce":[853],"tags_bruce":[],"history":[],"media_bruce":[],"history_bruce":[],"families_bruce":[],"eras_bruce":[1021],"class_list":["post-8278","bc_posts","type-bc_posts","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","root_bruce-caldwell","eras_bruce-1800-1899"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bc_posts\/8278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bc_posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bc_posts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8278"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bc_posts\/8278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8280,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bc_posts\/8278\/revisions\/8280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"root_bruce","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/root_bruce?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"tags_bruce","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags_bruce?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"history","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/history?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"media_bruce","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_bruce?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"history_bruce","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/history_bruce?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"families_bruce","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/families_bruce?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"eras_bruce","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newearthvillage.com\/spriggs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eras_bruce?post=8278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}