Chinese School, Qing dynasty, early 19th century, Ancestor portraits
Artist - Unknown
Title - Male and Female ancestor portraits
Medium - Gouache/watercolour on paper
Size - 130cm x 76cm
An extremely fine Chinese late Qing dynasty pair of ancestor portraits showing a senior official and his wife, possibly of the first rank seated in hieratic posture on a wooden chair, wearing a richly decorated court dress, the coat with a Mandarin square featuring what appears to be a crane signifying that the sitter is a senior civil official of the first rank.
The Chinese tradition of wearing rank badges (buzi), also known as Mandarin squares, to demonstrate civil, military or imperial rank began in 1391 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and continued throughout the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
There were four types of rank insignia: imperial, Civil officials’, military and censors’. There were nine different ranks each for civil and military officials. Each of these insignia g
...ave a clear indication of the rank of its wearer.
A badge featuring a bird identified the wearer as a civil official. To attain such a position required years of intense study, so birds may have been selected because of their 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: crane, golden pheasant, peacock, wild goose, silver pheasant, egret, mandarin duck, quail and paradise flycatcher. Civil officials sat on the emperor’s left at court functions, so their rank birds faced right towards him.
These insignia were sewn onto or woven into the wearer’s garments to indicate their rank. Civil officials wore insignia with different bird species corresponding to their rank, while animals denoted military officers. Court attire was regulated by imperial decrees such as the Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Imperial Court, published in 1759.
The fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 brought an end to rank insignia.
Postage to the UK is free, outside of UK is at cost by trackable post.
Internal Reference: pair chinese portraits
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA995900
Dateline of this antique is 19th Century
Height is 130cm (51.2inches)Width is 76cm (29.9inches)Depth is 0cm (0.0inches)
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