Enfilade

Distributed by The University of Chicago Press:

David Hugus, Chinese Rank Badges: Symbols of Power, Wealth, and Intellect in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (Hong Kong University Press, 2022), 280 pages, ISBN: 978-9627956457, $65.

Both utilitarian objects and examples of textile design of wondrous beauty, Chinese rank badges were developed in the Ming and Qing dynasties to indicate the bearer’s station in the civil or military bureaucracies. David Hugus centers his study on their chronology and iconography, accompanying his work with beautiful color illustrations. Beginning with the earliest dynastic period to the end of the imperial period, and beyond to the present day, Hugus’s analyses of the style and iconography of Chinese rank badges provide the reader with the tools to recognize the circumstances of individual badge design and to develop a basis for connoisseurship.

David Hugus is a longtime collector of Chinese rank badges. He is the co-author of Ladder to the Clouds.