GUANGXU PERIOD (1875-1908)

After 1898, the Guangxu Emperor attempted to limit consumption and excess by restricting rebuses and symbols in rank badges, resulting in squares entirely composed of their identifying creature, a sun, and clouds. Extant military badges from this so-called "reform" period, like this qilin, are rare. See pp. 276-7, pl. 15.065 in B. Jackson and D. Hugus, Ladder to the Clouds: Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank, Berkeley, 1999, for a comparable badge of a qilin, also worked in metallic threads, but on a gauze ground. A group of four additional examples of badges from this period was sold in Christie’s New York, 29 March 2023, lot 190.