LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Second rank military officers were assigned square lion badges which were applied to the chest and back of their official robes worn at the Ming dynasty court. This bold design with large lozenge-shaped clouds, prism-like rocks and rolling waves, reflects the aesthetic developments of the later Ming period. This colourful, striking badge belongs to a group of similar badges that were reportedly from the collection of the Palazzo Corsini in Florence. According to J. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars, Chinese Costumes and Textiles, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2003, p. 36, over thirty similar badges, primarily depicting either paired silver pheasants or lions, such as the present badge, were assembled in a large hanging or canopy, possibly made up in Tibet. Similar badges are illustrated by Vollmer, ibid., nos. 11 and 12.
Lion badges from the same group have been published. One from a private European collection, J. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao through the Qing dynasty, Paris, 2003, no. 12, pp. 36-7. See, also, the example illustrated by C. Hall et. al., Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall Collection, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore, 2006, p. 240, no. 69.