18TH CENTURY

Details

A VERY RARE BROCADE COURT MUSICIAN'S BADGE OF AN ORIOLE
18TH CENTURY
Made for a court musician and finely woven with an oriole (huangli), the long-tailed white and yellow bird shown facing the sun amidst vaporous clouds as it stands on a rock emerging from rolling waves tossed with a wan emblem and coral branch, all in white, yellow, green, red, blue and purple reserved on a soft red ground within a narrow yellow border
11¾ x 13 5/8 in. (29.8 x 34.6 cm.), mounted, lucite frame

Provenance

Textile as Art.

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Lot Essay

A very similar brocade badge of an oriole, dated to the Qianlong period, in the Chris Hall collection is illustrated in Power Dressing, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 2006, pp. 248-9, no. 73. The entry notes that during the Ming dynasty the oriole was one of three birds, along with the quail and paradise flycatcher, that identified a civil official of the eighth or ninth rank. During the Qing dynasty the oriole was no longer used for this purpose, but in 1776 it was designated the insignia of court musicians by the Qianlong emperor.

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