Chinese Tiger Rank Badge Leather Journal

$58.00 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A thoughtful gift for art lovers. The striking design on our embossed leather journal comes from an 18th-century Chinese rank badge featuring a ferocious tiger beneath swirling clouds. Such spectacularly embroidered badges were worn by government officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties; badges with birds indicated a civil official while animals such as the tiger were reserved for military officers, and each creature corresponded to a specific rank.