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Lot Essay
In the mid-seventeenth century, under pressure from the Manchu to institute their own style of court attire, the placement of rank badges changed from display on court robes to a surcoat worn over them. The shape of buzi, or insignia badges, became more exactingly square. This shift to an outer garment necessitated dividing the front badge vertically to accommodate the front opening of the surcoat. Although not sanctioned by legislation, wives and children of courtiers often wore garments ornamented with rank badges.
Extant examples of Kangxi-period civil rank badges are very rare. For three Kangxi-period gold-couched-ground rank badges, see the badge decorated with an egret included in the exhibition, Heavens' Embroidered Cloths, One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1995, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 295, no. 100; the example decorated with a silver pheasant illustrated by B. Jackson and D. Hughes, Ladder to the Clouds, Berkeley, California, 1999, p. 229, no. 15.010, and later sold at Christie's New York, The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles from the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection, 19 March 2008, lot 28; and the example decorated with a peacock, also sold at Christie's New York, 21 September 1995, lot 535.
Extant examples of Kangxi-period civil rank badges are very rare. For three Kangxi-period gold-couched-ground rank badges, see the badge decorated with an egret included in the exhibition, Heavens' Embroidered Cloths, One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1995, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 295, no. 100; the example decorated with a silver pheasant illustrated by B. Jackson and D. Hughes, Ladder to the Clouds, Berkeley, California, 1999, p. 229, no. 15.010, and later sold at Christie's New York, The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles from the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection, 19 March 2008, lot 28; and the example decorated with a peacock, also sold at Christie's New York, 21 September 1995, lot 535.