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Description: | An embroidered mandarin square, or rank badge, worn on the front of a court robe. There is a void in the centre of the satin ground where a symbol of rank , either a bird or an animal would be applied, the former for a civil official, the latter for a military official. The upper section of the square has rows of 'ruyi'-shaped clouds in couched blue silk floss to represent the sky.
Below the sky are repeated curved lines to represent the sea waves. A rock on which the bird image would usually be perched represents the earth and rises in the middle of the waves. The standing water, 'lishui', pattern at the bottom is depicted by the gold and silver slanting lines to represent the deep sea. The Eight Buddhist Emblems are arranged in circle around the void. Both the fish and conch shell are shown in the waves, while the lotus, canopy, umbrella, endless knot, wheel and vase are placed in the sky.
A silver-coloured sun disk placed in the upper left corner indicates that it was made for the official himself rather than his wife. The border has an alternating pattern of bats and 'shou' characters, which denote happiness and longevity respectively.
caption: General view of object no. 1971.776. | Publisher: | http://www.horniman.ac.uk/ | Rights holder: | Horniman Museum and Gardens | Subjects: | silk Badges of Rank satin rank insignias War- and Peace-making | Source: | Horniman Museum | Identifier: | oai:oai.horniman.ac.uk:object-121556 | Go to resource |
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