Mandarin Square

Third rank military officer's leopard squares. ( The animal soaring through the clouds recalls the flying birds on contemporary late Qing civil squares). Leopard couched in gold, with couched outlines of twisted blue silk; sun in stem satin stitch; clouds and symbols in plain satin stitch. Border of alternating gold bats and oblong shou characters in silver, couched between thin lines of gold. Same general pattern as 52-23-39 except that the latter, being a woman's square, has all the symbols in reverse. They were not necessarily embroidered by the same artisan, but probably made in the same workship; certainley from the same pattern (reversed). This badge appears to be from the Reform Period of 1898 within the Guangxu Period (1875-1908 CE), or in that style.