Above the old rank badge
Qi-lin rank
badge of a duke (1500)
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Taken from: The Giraffe as a Mythical Qilin in Chinese Art. By James C Y Watt
Found in the tomb of Duke Xu Fu
(died 1517) in Nanjing; made of gold brocade.
The animal on this rank
badge is an alternative representation of the qilin, an auspicious mythological beast that is said to appear in the reign of a virtuous ruler. In the Ming dynasty, qilin badges were worn as the
insignia of nobles.
The actual robe of the Duke with in the central part the rank badge.
One of the traditional Qilin pictures during the Ming. It shows how close it could come to a giraffe
