The Myrna Myers Gallery Textiles

Qing Dynasty silk embroidery rank badge decorated with a Mandarin duck, denoting an official of the Seventh Rank. Badges with ducks are re...

Qing Dynasty woven rank badge decorated with a Golden Pheasant, denoting a civil official of the Second Rank. This badge depicts a pheasant against a dark blue background, its wing...

Brightly colored pair of 19th century civil rank badges (buzi) decorated with peacocks, denoting a civil servant of the Third Rank. The badges are worked in satin stitch embroidery o...

Qing Dynasty brocade civil rank badge with silver pheasant, likely intended for the front of a child's robe. This unusually-sized badge was probably made for an older child of a civil official of the fifth rank. It features a silver pheasant, which can be recognized by its five distinctive long, scalloped tail feathers. The bird, with one foot raised and its wings outstretched, stands on a rock surrounded by green waves couched with gold thread, facing the red sun...

Lovely pair of 19th century civil rank badges (buzi) decorated with an egret, denoting a civil servant of the Sixth Rank. The badges are worked in Peking knot and couched gold thread...

Qing Dynasty brocade civil rank badge with silver pheasant, intended for the front of a child's robe. This badge, made for the child of a civil official of the fifth rank, most likely his eldest son, features a silver pheasant, which can be recognized by its five distinctive long, scalloped tail feathers. The bird, with one foot raised, stands on a rock surrounded by green waves and blue scrolling clouds, facing the red sun...

Qing Dynasty silk embroidery civil rank badge with silver pheasant combined with peacock, 19th century. This badge is a hybrid, made up o...

Rare Qing Dynasty silk embroidery rank badge decorated with a paradise flycatcher, denoting an official of the Ninth Rank. It is relativel...

Vividly colored pair of 19th century civil rank badges (buzi) decorated with an egret, denoting a civil servant of the Sixth Rank. The badges are worked in flat stitch embroidery on a dark blue silk background, with the bird tinged slightly pink, and the border a bright gold color. The bird is perched on a rock surrounded by green waves and blue clouds. 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. A badge featuring a bird identified the wearer as a civil official, possibly because of birds' literary associations. Each rank was represented by a different species, and while there were slight variations over time, by the Qing Dynasty the order from highest to lowest was: (1) crane, (2) golden pheasant, (3) peacock, (4) wild goose, (5) silver pheasant, (6) egret, (7) mandarin duck, (8) quail and (9) paradise flycatcher. Wives were also entitled to wear badges of their husbands’ rank on black surcoats for official occasions. Women's badges can be distinguished from the men's by the placement of the red sun...

This medallion, which would have been sewn on a robe, depicts a number of symbols on a background of light and dark blue clouds. The central symbol is Fu, which represents the power ...

Qing Dynasty silk embroidery rank badge with silver pheasant. This vividly-colored embroidery depicts a white pheasant on a dark blue bac...

Rare Qing Dynasty k'o-ssu ("cut silk") military rank badge with bear, late 18th or early 19th century. The Chinese tradition of wearing rank badges (buzi), also known as Mandarin squares...

19th century K'o-ssu ("cut silk") rank badge depicting a silver pheasant. The Chinese tradition of wearing rank badges (buzi), also known as Mandarin squares...

Qing Dynasty embroidered silk roundel depicting a profusion of irises. The flowers are embroidered in satin stitch in various shades of blue and ivory o...