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Lot Essay
This badge from the early Qianlong period was worn by the wife of a sixth-rank civil official. Women typically wore rank squares that mirrored their husband's insignia, so when a wife sat to her husband's right at court, the birds on their respective badges would face each other, symbolizing marital harmony within the household.
The egret represented the sixth rank, which encompassed secretaries and instructors at the imperial academy and Hanlin institute (a prestigious literary institution), clerks and registrars in imperial bureaus, police magistrates, court astronomers, assistant sub-prefects in the provinces, Buddhist and Taoist clergy, and legal secretaries. A very similar Qianlong-period badge from the Judith Rutherford collection is illustrated in B. Jackson and D. Hugus, Ladder to the Clouds: Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank, Berkeley, 1999, p. 240, pl. 15.022.
The egret represented the sixth rank, which encompassed secretaries and instructors at the imperial academy and Hanlin institute (a prestigious literary institution), clerks and registrars in imperial bureaus, police magistrates, court astronomers, assistant sub-prefects in the provinces, Buddhist and Taoist clergy, and legal secretaries. A very similar Qianlong-period badge from the Judith Rutherford collection is illustrated in B. Jackson and D. Hugus, Ladder to the Clouds: Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank, Berkeley, 1999, p. 240, pl. 15.022.