Featured Chinese Needlework, Possibly Rank badges?

Now for something completely out of my bailiwick. I collect textiles, but mostly from the Middle East, South and Central Asia. Indonesia, too. But I could not resist these two pieces when I saw them recently at a local sale. I thought they were exquisite, even though I am not quite sure what they are. Or what to do with them! I know that @KikoBlueEyes might be able to shed some light on what they are, and I am happy to hear from others.

They are mounted on paper. The paper is in poor shape but the embroideries are in surprisingly good condition, given the environment they were in.

 

Hi. All Chinese rank badges have a common element: a central figure - a bird for a civil servants and an animal for the military. Yours do not have have these central elements. Also rank badges in my experience are always intended to be worn on clothing. Therefore, rank badges are textiles.

What I think you have are patterns embroidered on paper. The following discusses the technique and history of embroidery on paper (see link at the bottom):

"Gu Yuchun, a 65-year-old provincial-level craftsman of Chinese intangible cultural heritage, can embroider vivid patterns on Xuan paper, a traditional Chinese art paper, and has further developed the art and promoted it in the world.

The special form of art originated in Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) from the Gu family’s traditional embroidery techniques of embroidering patterns on paper, according to Gu, who is the 9th generation in his family to inherit the skill

Gu has seen his father working on embroidery products with Xuan paper since he was little, and finds the art fascinating. After years of efforts, Gu managed to combine traditional embroidery with Chinese ink painting and created independently embroidered ink painting in 2001.

Meanwhile, Gu has constantly improved the paper used for embroidery. He went to the manufacturers of Xuan paper in east China’s Anhui Province where Xuan paper was first created and has been an iconic product, and finally developed better paper for embroidery after many experiments."

Here is the link:

Chinese craftsman embroiders various patterns on paper - People's Daily Online

Everything I have collected is a textile, so I can't help you with determining age. As you can see by the article, they could be very old. Your pieces include what is called the forbidden stitch. The name is associated with the work done in the Forbidden City, where the Emperors lived and used to be associated with textiles created there.

 

Thank you, @KikoBlueEyes ! I think what led me in this direction was a snippet from the Cleveland museum of Art: "Rank badges (also called rank insignia or Mandarin squares) were used in China during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties to demonstrate the wearer’s rank. Attached to the front and back of a ceremonial robe, rank badges were woven in pairs with identical imagery. One was divided vertically up the center to attach to the front of a robe with a center opening. Rank badges are generally square or rectangular, although round examples exist. They are typically satin weave or slit tapestry weave (kesi) silk. Satin weave badges often have dark backgrounds with silk and/or metal thread embroidery. Some badges incorporate peacock feathers or beads. Late in the Qing dynasty appliqué replaced embroidery to allow for quicker production and a change in rank."

These seemed to me to fall into the category of appliqué. (I think that is how I started my search, with the terms "applique" and "Chinese".) But you are entirely correct, and the big hole in my assumption was the central image, which is missing.

Also, I now realize that these cannot be made to be worn on the front and back of a garment, as they are mirror images. So they perhaps they were made to be applied to each side of a seam or opening?

 

A rank badge is generally an 11" square, though this is not an absolute. In the front, each side is one half of the back badge and generally contains one half portion of the central figure. In the case below the two halves have been closely aligned, but you can see the separation.
The back badge would not have the slit. By the way, this is the ninth rank (lowest) civil servant - a fly catcher.



This is a Qilin - the top military badge, you can see the split better.