AN EMBROIDERED SILK 'PARADISE FLYCATCHER' RANK BADGE 19th century

AN EMBROIDERED SILK 'PARADISE FLYCATCHER' RANK BADGE 19th century Made for a civil official of the Ninth Rank, embroidered in multi-coloured threads with a paradise flycatcher, lianque, with distinctive long tail feathers, facing the sun and standing on a rock emerging from rolling waves, amidst clouds, bats, fungus, branches of peonies and peaches, against a black ground, framed and glazed. 30.5cm (12in) × 31cm (12 1/4in) high. Footnotes: 十九世紀 刺繡練鵲紋文官補子 Provenance: an English private collection Civil officials wear bufu decorated with badges displaying different types of birds to distinguish rank. The birds used as rank insignia were modelled after actual species and generally symbolised literary elegance, considered appropriate to represent civil officials who had gained their positions through examinations based on Confucian classics, see G.Dickinson and L.Wrigglesworth, Imperial Wardrobe, London, 1990, p.122. The present lot, a badge worn by a Ninth-rank civil official, depicts a paradise flycatcher which was also a symbol of longevity. Compare with a related silk embroidered 'golden pheasant' badge, Yongzheng/Qianlong, which was sold at Bonhams London, 2 November 2021, lot 273. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing