Mandarins' buttons

China

Pink & Silver buttons: Collected by and purchased from R. Turley, 1896; 1896.62.122 & .124
Gold button: Collected by G. Rigaud and donated by J. Rigaud, 1887; 1887.26.35
Blue button: Collected by A. Elderton by 1874 and donated by R.P.S. Elderton in 1952; 1952.5.66These colourful buttons were worn on the hats of mandarins, magistrates or civil servants of Imperial China during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). In 1899, they were estimated to number more than 14,000. The term 'Mandarin' is used to refer to the standard northern spoken variety of Chinese because it was the language used by these officials.

The mandarins were Chinese and the ruling Manchus demanded they observed a strict protocol for dress. They wore official headgear both indoors and outdoors: a black velvet cap in the winter, or a woven rattan hat in the summer. Both were topped with a coloured button set in brass. Mandarins were ranked in nine classes so the colour of your button indicated your rank. A transparent red button was for the first class, an opaque red button for the second class, a transparent blue button for the third class, an opaque blue button for the fourth class, a transparent white button for the fifth class, an opaque white button for the sixth class, a gold button for the seventh class, a worked gold button for the eighth class, and a silver button for the ninth class.

These examples are made of glass and porcelain and were intended for everyday wear. The hats had an opening that allowed the metal finial to be moved from one hat to another or replaced with a different button. For special occasions an ordinary button could be replaced with one made of precious stones, such as coral for the red button, crystal for the transparent one, or sapphire for the blue one. In pink button here, made of Peking glass, is meant to represent coral and therefore belonged to a mandarin of the second class.

As well as hat buttons, the mandarins wore other items according to their rank – distinctive girdle clasps made varyingly of gold, jade, mother-of-pearl and buffalo horn, and cloaks fastened with silk knot 'frog' buttons and embroidered with birds such as egrets, pheasants, ducks or jays.

Around the end of the 19th century, China began to incorporate the buttons into miniature bells for export. The button formed the handle above a two-inch tall porcelain-covered metal bell, which used a small glass bead on a chain as a clapper. Today both the buttons and the bells are collector's items.