Mandarin square

A mandarin square is a large embroidered badge sewn onto the surcoat of an official in imperial China. The animal-insignia inside the square indicates the rank of the official that wore it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the Qing Dynasty, the Dragon in various poses were reserved for the royalty and nobility. Civil officials' insignias were birds while military officers' were beasts.

Related Topics:
Qing Dynasty - Dragon - Insignia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Musicians used the Oriole.

Related Topics:
Musician - Oriole

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The handiwork of the embroidery on the squares are very delicate and colourful.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another piece of wardrobe Qing bureaucrats wore was the Manchu official headwear.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mandarin squares (??), also called Chinese rank badges, were authorized for wear in 1391 by the Ming Dynasty. The use of squares depicting birds for civil officials and animals for military officials was an outgrowth of the use of similar squares, apparently for decorative use, in the Yuan Dynasty. The original court dress regulations of the Ming Dynasty were published in 1368, but did not refer to badges as rank insignia. The use of these badges continued through the remainder of the Ming and the subsequent Qing Dynasty until the imperial system fell in 1912.

Related Topics:
1391 - Ming Dynasty - Yuan Dynasty - 1368 - Imperial system - 1912

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ming nobles and officials wore their rank badges on full-cut red robes with the design stretching from side to side, completely covering the chest and back. This caused the badges to be slightly trapezoidal with the tops narrower than the bottom. The Ming statutes never refer to the number of birds or animals that should appear on the badges. In the beginning, either two or three were used. In a typical example of paired birds, they were shown in flight on a background of bright cloud streamers on a gold background. Others showed one bird on the ground with the second in flight. The addition of flowers produced an idealized naturalism.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) continued the use of mandarin squares. There was a sharp difference between the Ming and Qing styles of badges. The Qing badges were smaller with a decorative border.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The specific birds and animals used to represent rank varied only slightly from the inception of mandarin squares until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The following tables show this evolution.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Military

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Civilian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While the specific birds and animals did not change much throughout their use in the last two Chinese dynasties, the design of the squares underwent an almost continual evolution.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~