SOLD Stunning 19th C Chinese Rank Badge Embroidery on SIlk, Framed as Found ducks in a row 5 1/4" tall

5 1/4" tall

The handwritten text below the drawing is a (translated) excerpt from a verse of "Auld Lang Syne" a Scots-language poem written by Robert Burns in 1788:

You know I'm a sucker for a little hand-carved shoe

I assume early vintage condition

giving one or the other the upper hand

SOLD Stunning 19th C Chinese Rank Badge Embroidery on SIlk, Framed as Found ducks in a row 5 1/4" tallI found this at Brimfield with a good bit of dust over the glass, but a few swipes with some Windex and this bird sings! The silk embroidery is a fine 19th century Chinese rank badge a fragment I presume, but I have not removed it from the frame. Rank badges (also called rank insignia or Mandarin squares) were used in China during the Ming (13681644) and Qing (16441911) dynasties to demonstrate the wearer's rank. There were several different birds