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Lot Essay
There are two main types of Kangxi period civil official’s badges. The first type features a bird with the wings in circular form and the second type shows the bird in an upright position with wings outstretched, as can be seen on the present badge. Both types usually have a background of couched gold-wrapped threads, but on earlier Kangxi badges the metallic thread outlines each motif in concentric patterns and by the end of the Kangxi period, the concentric patterns are replaced by straight horizontal lines.
For a similar example of an early Kangxi period badge of a silver pheasant with wings outstretched with a ground of couched gold threads in concentric patterns, see an example sold in The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles from the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection; Christie's New York, 19 March 2008, lot 28. For an example of a later Kangxi badge of an egret with wings outstretched, but on a ground of couched gold threads of straight horizontal lines, see an example illustrated by C. Hall et al., Heaven's Embroidered Cloths: One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, Urban Council of Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 294-95.
For a similar example of an early Kangxi period badge of a silver pheasant with wings outstretched with a ground of couched gold threads in concentric patterns, see an example sold in The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles from the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection; Christie's New York, 19 March 2008, lot 28. For an example of a later Kangxi badge of an egret with wings outstretched, but on a ground of couched gold threads of straight horizontal lines, see an example illustrated by C. Hall et al., Heaven's Embroidered Cloths: One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, Urban Council of Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 294-95.