17TH CENTURY

Second rank military officers were assigned square lion badges which were applied to the chest and back of their official robes worn at the Ming dynasty court. This bold design with large lozenge-shaped clouds, prism-like rocks and rolling waves, reflects the aesthetic developments of the later Ming period. This badge was part of a group of over twenty similar badges once sewn into a large curtain or canopy reportedly from the collection of the Palazzo Corsini in Florence. See C. Hall, "Chinese or Korean? The Palazzo Corsini Rank Badges", Hali 104 (May-June 1999), pp. 66-8. Although the embroidery is not refined, perhaps done in a provincial or private workshop, the materials and style as well as the exuberant colors and large scale motifs of these badges are typically late Ming/early Qing.

Lion badges from the same group have been published. One from the Jobrenco Limited Trustee Hall Collection Trust, C. Hall et al., Heaven's Embroidered Cloths: One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, Urban Council of Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 66-8, and one from a private European collection, J.E. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao through the Qing dynasty, Paris, 2003, no. 12, pp. 36-7. See, also, the example illustrated by C. Hall et. al., Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall Collection, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, 2006, p. 240, no. 69.