phoenix rank badge

phoenix rank badge , late 1400s–early 1500s, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Where object was made: China

Material/technique: k'o-ssu; silk thread; gold thread

Credit line: Museum purchase: R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Fund

Accession number: 1999.0199

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
“Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art,” Nov-2005, Mary Dusenbury
The phoenix was associated with the empress, just as the dragon was a symbol of the emperor. Here, the paired phoenixes identify the owner of this insignia badge as an imperial lady or high-ranking noblewomen. Luxurious materials and costly dyes enhance the fine workmanship of the kesi badge and support its identification as an imperial or aristocratic emblem.

Archive Label 2003:
The paired phoenixes on this insignia badge indicate that it belonged to an imperial lady or high-ranking noblewoman.

In 1391 the Ming court issued a set of costume regulations that codified the use of rank badges, woven or embroidered panels worn on the chest and back with prescribed imagery that indicated the wearer’s rank. The regulations specified that the emperor wear a side-fastening yellow robe with four roundels depicting coiled dragons worked in gold. Imperial sons also sported dragons, while the badges of other male members of the imperial family depicted the mythical qilin. Imperial women wore the phoenix. Nobles and scholar-officials donned loose robes of Ming dynastic red with a square plaque at chest and back indicating the wearer’s rank. The regulations specified a particular bird (civil) or animal (military) for each of the nine civil and military ranks. Imperial badges were generally embroidered on or woven directly into the robe. Official badges, by contrast, were constructed as discrete squares so that they could be removed and replaced if the official were fortunate enough to be promoted.

On this badge, one phoenix is perched on a rock with waves beneath, surrounded by pearls and lingzshi mushrooms of immortality. A second phoenix swirls downward toward the first from a cloud-filled sky. The birds are separated by full-blooming peonies, emblems of female beauty and prosperity. Luxurious materials and costly dyes enhance the fine workmanship of this kesi insignia badge.