Rank-Badge Dress of a Non-Imperial Duke

The garment and its badge

The *bufu* of a *mingong*, or non-imperial duke, was an outer garment bearing rank insignia at the front and back for authorised court occasions. A rank badge (*buzi*) was the conspicuous figured panel or area displayed on the garment; it was not synonymous with the entire court robe or the totality of an official's ceremonial outfit.

Volume 5 of the *Huangchao liqi tushi* prescribes dark-blue cloth with a frontal four-clawed *mang* motif embroidered on both the front and back of the duke's rank-badge garment. The text extends the relevant provision to marquises and earls. Here *zhengmang* refers to a forward-facing python motif, and the four-clawed form must be distinguished from specified five-clawed dragon imagery associated with other high-status dress categories. A *mingong* was a non-imperial duke, not automatically equivalent in clothing entitlement to imperial-clan dukes such as *zhenguo gong* or *fuguo gong*.

Clothing in context

The rank-badge outer garment was worn in combination with other regulated clothing and accessories, and whether it was appropriate depended on the occasion and relevant prescriptions. The motif alone cannot establish the identity of an individual wearer. A surviving textile should be examined for badge placement, ground colour, construction, alterations and provenance alongside the biography and title of the proposed owner. Rank insignia was a component of the official dress system, not an independent identification document.

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