Pair Of Rank Badges For Civil Official (Hyungbae)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 24 Feb 1886
name: label: Donor Name
content: Ensign U S N John B. Bernadou
notes: label: Notes
content: "Late 19th century. Embroidered blue silk. The square patches here are embroidered in yellow is green and reddish-brown on dark blue silk. They are called hyungbae, literally "chest and back." The design is a typical single-crane insignia, danhak hyungbae, of a white crane flying with its wings spread wide. It holds pulloch'o immortal fungus, in its beak. Believed to be a mythical creature that lives for 1,600 years, the crane is an important motif in Korean art. The scene shows other auspicious symbols: clouds, water, waves, rocks, and a svastika. The svastika is a Hindu symbol (from svasti, "welfare" in Sanskrit), but here it symbolizes secular happiness, especially the yellow svastika, as here, meaning unending prosperity. These rank patches were sewn onto the formal robe of government officials, one on the chest and one on the back. The formal uniforms of court officials, worn at work, consist of samo, official hat (cat. no. 66), dannyeong, official robe, hyungbae insignia, dae, belt, and mokhwa. Collected in Seoul. Ref: Hough Korean Catalog pp. 482-483; Bernadou Field Notes 18" [from: "An Ethnography of the Hermit Kingdom: The J.B. Bernadou Korean Collection 1884-1885", Chang-su Cho Houchins, 2004, number 93]
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Mar 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Korea, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Not Given
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 016970
label: USNM Number
content: E77030-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Badge
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 25 cm
label: Width
content: 24 cm