A Silver Qilin on a Chinese Rank Badge

from a photograph by Jim Pascoe

The Guild's Museum Collection contains a number of embroiderered Chinese rank badges. This one is undoubtedly one of the most splendid - a first-class embroidery for a high-ranking officer. The qilin is stitched directly onto the dark-blue background, but another badge in the collection obviously belonged to someone very ambitious, because the symbolic bird has been embroiderered separately and then applied to the panel - ready for swift removal and replacement when promotion came!