A PAIR OF RARE SEED PEARL-EMBROIDERED CIVIL OFFICIAL'S RANK BADGES OF CRANES, BUZI

FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF RARE SEED PEARL-EMBROIDERED CIVIL OFFICIAL'S RANK BADGES OF CRANES, BUZI
FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY
Made for a civil official of the first rank, each worked in Peking knot on a satin ground, the seed pearl-embroidered crane (xianhe) shown facing the sun and surrounded by lingzhi-shaped clouds as it stands on a rock emerging from waves tossed with the bajixiang, flanked by rocks as well as roses and lingzhi to one side and narcissus and a fruiting peach tree to the other, all reserved on a ground of iridescent green peacock feather couching and picked out in shades of blue, green, red, white, coral, pale brown and yellow within a fretwork border in couched gold thread
12 x 12¼ in. (30.5 x 31 cm.), mounted, lucite frame (2)

Provenance

Judith Rutherford.

Literature

B. Jackson and D. Hugus, Ph.D., Ladder to the Clouds, Berkeley, 1999, p. 255 (front square and detail).
P. Welch, Chinese Art, A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, Vermont, 2008, p. 33 (one illustrated).

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Lot Essay

In their discussion of one of these badges, the authors B. Jackson and D. Hugus, Ladder to Heaven, Berkeley, 1999, p. 255, discuss the "richness and expense" displayed in this badge, with its rare use of peacock feather, seed pearls, and couched gold thread, and how it (and its pair) "defines the outer limits of an artform that was supposed to avoid extravagance."

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