{
"data": {
"id": 126543,
"accession_number": "1948.70",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Rank Badge (buzi), 1736\u201395. China, Qing dynasty (1644\u20131911), Qianlong reign (1736\u201395). Silk, satin weave; silk, gold metal thread, and peacock feather embroidery; overall: 31.1 x 31.1 cm (12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1948.70",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Rank Badge (buzi)",
"creation_date": "1736\u201395",
"creation_date_earliest": 1736,
"creation_date_latest": 1795,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"China, Qing dynasty (1644\u20131911), Qianlong reign (1736\u201395)"
],
"technique": "silk, satin weave; silk, gold metal thread, and peacock feather embroidery",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Textiles",
"collection": "Textiles",
"type": "Embroidery",
"measurements": "Overall: 31.1 x 31.1 cm (12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.311,
"width": 0.311
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 312081,
"title": "A Study Exhibition of Chinese Textiles of the Ming and Ch'ing Periods",
"description": "A Study Exhibition of Chinese Textiles of the Ming and Ch'ing Periods. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 1947-October 9, 1948).",
"opening_date": "1947-12-12T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 336424,
"title": "Facing the Ancestors: Chinese Portraits and Figure Painting \u2013 Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c",
"description": "Facing the Ancestors: Chinese Portraits and Figure Painting \u2013 Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 12, 2019-February 2, 2020).",
"opening_date": "2019-08-12T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"description": "Rank badges (also called rank insignia or Mandarin squares) were used in China during the Ming (1368\u20131644) and Qing (1644\u20131911) dynasties to demonstrate the wearer\u2019s rank. In 1391 new clothing regulations directed court officials to wear decorative squares indicating their rank\u2014birds for civil officials and animals for military officials. During the Qing dynasty rank badge design was regulated, and certain creatures were associated with specific ranks. Qing badges depict a representation of the universe with a landscape and a central creature, surrounded by clouds and facing the sun. The sun represented the emperor and this composition showed the official\u2019s loyalty to him. An official\u2019s wife wore rank badges that mirrored her husband\u2019s. Most of the examples in CMA\u2019s collection depict creatures facing a sun on the left. Attached to the front and back of a ceremonial robe, rank badges were woven in pairs with identical imagery. One was divided vertically up the center to attach to the front of a robe with a center opening. Rank badges are generally square or rectangular, although round examples exist. They are typically satin weave or slit tapestry weave (kesi) silk. Satin weave badges often have dark backgrounds with silk and/or metal thread embroidery. Some badges incorporate peacock feathers or beads. Late in the Qing dynasty appliqu\u00e9 replaced embroidery to allow for quicker production and a change in rank.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79906096"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1948.70-rank-badge-buzi"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cammann, Schuyler. \u201cThe Development of the Mandarin Square.\u201d Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8, no. 2 (1944): 71\u2013130.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://doi.org/10.2307/2717953."
},
{
"citation": "Cammann, Schuyler. \u201cEmbroidery Techniques in Old China.\u201d Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 16 (1962): 16\u201340.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/20067040"
},
{
"citation": "Cammann, Schuyler. \u201cCostume in China, 1644 to 1912.\u201d Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin 75, no. 326 (1979): 3\u201319.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://doi.org/10.2307/3795325."
},
{
"citation": "Cammann, Schuyler V.R.\" Other Mandarin Squares: Korean, Annamese and Unfamiliar Examples.\" Arts of Asia. [Kowloon, Hong Kong]: [Arts of Asia Publications], (March-April 1992).",
"page_number": "p. 115-126",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "\u9999\u6e2f\u5e02\u653f\u5c40\u8207\u9999\u6e2f\u6771\u65b9\u9676\u74f7\u5b78\u6703\u5408\u8fa6 ; \u907c\u5be7\u7701\u535a\u7269\u9928\u5354\u8fa6 ; \u9999\u6e2f\u85dd\u8853\u9928\u7c4c\u5283 = Heavens' embroidered cloths : one thousand years of Chinese textiles / jointly presented by the Urban Council, Hong Kong and the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong ; in association with the Liaoning Provincial Museum ; organized by the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong. Urban Council, Hong Kong. Urban Council, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, \u907c\u5be7\u7701\u535a\u7269\u9928, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, and Liaoning Sheng bo wu guan. \u9326\u7e61\u7f85\u8863\u5de7\u5929\u5de5. Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1995.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Wrigglesworth, Linda. \"Making the Grade\", the Badge of Rank III: Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties : December 4th to 24th 1996, London. London: Linda Wrigglesworth, 1996.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Jackson, Beverley, and David Hugus. Ladder to the Clouds: Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank. Berkeley, Calif: Ten Speed Press, 1999.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Hall, Chris. Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall Collection. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum, 2006.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Watt, James C. Y. \u201cThe Giraffe As the Mythical Qilin in Chinese Art: A Painting and a Rank Badge in the Metropolitan Museum.\u201d Metropolitan Museum Journal 43 (2008): 111\u201315.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1948.70",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.70/1948.70_web.jpg",
"width": "893",
"height": "900",
"filesize": "",
"filename": "1948.70_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.70/1948.70_print.jpg",
"width": "3374",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "",
"filename": "1948.70_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.70/1948.70_full.tif",
"width": "4859",
"height": "4897",
"filesize": "",
"filename": "1948.70_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 126543,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1948-05-03T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1736,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1736\u201395",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": "In addition to silk thread and metal thread, the embroidery of the central field is peacock feather-wrapped thread, easily identifiable by its iridescence. This thread, like the metal thread, is comprised of a silk core, but the silk is wrapped with thin strips from the peacock feather shaft with small iridescent feather barbs attached. The peacock feather-wrapped threads are laid on the silk ground and couched (stitched) down with silk. The barbs of the peacock feathers shimmer and are texturally very different from the smooth silk embroidery floss used elsewhere on the rank badge.",
"has_conservation_images": true,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Insignia Square"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:09:18.360000"
}
}