Important Chinese Rank Badges and Textiles from The David Hugus Collection ‌ After a long and decorated military career, Dr. David Hugus began collecting rank badges in 1991. His interest began after reading articles on the subject by Professor Schuyler Cammann of the University of Pennsylvania, which inspired his thirty-year pursuit of learning, teaching and collecting Chinese rank badges. Together with the support of his wife of over fifty years, Nancy, the study and collecting of rank badges became a hobby as well as a mission-- to decode and publish on the sparsely written field of rank badges. In 2000, Hugus co-authored with collector Beverley Jackson, Ladder to the Clouds: Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank, considered one of the foremost English-language texts on the history of Chinese rank badges and one of five non-fiction finalists for the Kiriyama Book Award in 2000. Seeing the need for an even more comprehensive survey of rank badges, he continued to expand his knowledge and to build an encyclopedic collection of badges with the intention of again publishing a text that would stand as the most comprehensive on the subject. In 2021, David published Chinese Rank Badges: Symbols of Power, Wealth, and Intellect in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2021, which now stands as the most comprehensive text on the subject of rank badges in the English language and is being published in Chinese by Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing. Christie’s is honored to offer the second of four sales of Chinese rank badges and textiles from the David Hugus collection. Another selection of rank badges will be offered concurrently in the Art of China online sale, which runs from 14-29 September 2022. ‌ PROPERTY FROM THE DAVID HUGUS COLLECTION

A BROCADE RANK BADGE OF A QILIN, BUZI

MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A BROCADE RANK BADGE OF A QILIN, BUZI
MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
Made for a nobleman, the badge is boldly worked with a recumbent qilin above waves, between rock formations and lotus scroll, all below ruyi-shaped clouds.
15 5/8 x 15 1/4 in. (40 x 39 cm.)

Provenance

Vancouver collection (by repute).
John Eric Riis.

Literature

D. Hugus, Chinese Rank Badges: Symbols of Power, Wealth, and Intellect in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2021, p. 59, no. 5.3.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Rufus Chen (陳嘉安) Head of Sale, AVP, Specialist

asianartny@christies.com +1 212 636 2180

Lot Essay

Insignia badges were first introduced shortly after the establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368. The earliest laws governing insignia badges date from 1391,which specified that imperial dukes were permitted to wear badges decorated with the mythical qilin. However, during the Ming period, the right to actually wear the appropriate badge also had to be granted by the emperor himself as an honor. Rank itself did not entitle even the highest noble to wear insignia badges.

A nearly identical badge was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 4029. Another badge of this design, but woven on a red ground, in the Chris Hall Collection, is illustrated in B. Jackson and D. Hugus, in Ladder to the Clouds, 1999, p. 111.

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