China Warlord period decorations: some trivial observations of their confusing similarity

[JapanX]

Hunan Province Merit Medal

Edited February 6, 2012 by JapanX

[JapanX]

Next this Merit Medal issued by Shanxi Province office of Warlord. It has dimension 63x57mm. Made in bronze (?). Photo and attribution through the courtesy of Richard LaTondre, Harry Mohler Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

[JapanX]

Shanxi Province Merit Medal

Edited February 6, 2012 by JapanX

[JapanX]

And the last one in this group – Hupei province Merit Medal for Suppression of Bandits, issued in 1921. It has dimension 62x57mm. Made in bronze (?). Photo and attribution through the courtesy of Richard LaTondre, Harry Mohler Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

[JapanX]

Hupei province Merit Medal

[JapanX]

In my opinion there could be several different answers to this question. Here they are.

1) by coping design of national state decorations (or foreign state decorations) they were trying to made their own decorations more “legit” and “influential”

2) manufacturing and/or financial capabilities during this highly turbulent time simply didn’t allowed them to play with there own “toys”. Making a new central tablet/medallion is much easier task, than creation a brand new award.

For some decorations both these variants might hold.

[JapanX]

It will be interesting to note, that Chinese Warlords not only copied national decorations, but even foreign one. To be more exact – Japanese decorations. Here we have two nice examples of such copycat practice.

Edited February 6, 2012 by JapanX

[JapanX]

Zhang Xueliang Merit Medal. It has dimension 50x46 mm. Numbered 22954 on reverse. Photo and attribution through the courtesy of Richard LaTondre, Harry Mohler Collection, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

[JapanX]

Zhang Xueliang Medal

[JapanX]

Obviously this is a nice attempt of coping Japanese Red Cross order.

And here is a nice example of coping Japanese sacred treasure order.

Commander’s Medal of Merit issued by First Division of the Land Army (attribution and photo by Morton&Eden).

[JapanX]

Medal of Merit issued by First Division of the Land Army

Edited February 6, 2012 by JapanX

[JapanX]

That’s all for the present folks!

Cheers,

Nick

[drclaw]

Thanks for posting this discussion, Nick. Very interesting indeed!

I've been collecting some information on the Order of the Striped Tiger (awarded 1912-1928) with Richard's help.

I've just acquired a Striped Tiger made by the famous Qing Dynasty / early Republic Beijing cloisonne workshop Lau Tian Di. The reverse of the neck badge is stamped with the Mandarin inscription "Chinese Republic, 8th year [i.e. 1917]" and a square hallmark with four characters "Lao Tian Di Zhi" (lit. Old Heaven Advantage / Benefit Manufacture).

Interestingly, the 2008 UBS Tammann Collection auction catalogue notes that Sun Yat Sen / Nationalist Government in Guandong also began awarding the Striped Tiger, with the enamels of the Guandong awards of poorer quality and more prone to "enamel pest" than the Central Government awards.

The catalogue also notes Lao Tian Di Zhi as one of the known suppliers to the Nationalist Guandong Government.

Most of the Lao Tian Di awards I've seen in pictures have been of the highest quality, which is not surprising given the workshop was founded by ex-Imperial cloisonne master craftsmen. Economic decline in the late 19th century forced the Court to stop funding the imperial workshops, which led to the craftsmen to starting their own establishments to make a living.

If, however, the Tammann catalogue is correct and Lao Tian Di supplied Orders to the Guandong Government we have a fascinating situation. Not only did the Guandong Government (essentially, another provincial Warlord until the successful Northern Expedition) issue the same awards as the internationally recognised central government, they were being supplied by the same manufacturer!

Later Striped Tigers were mostly manufactured by the Beijing Mint, I believe.

[JapanX]

I've just acquired a Striped Tiger made by the famous Qing Dynasty / early Republic Beijing cloisonne workshop Lau Tian Di. The reverse of the neck badge is stamped with the Mandarin inscription "Chinese Republic, 8th year [i.e. 1917]" and a square hallmark with four characters "Lao Tian Di Zhi" (lit. Old Heaven Advantage / Benefit Manufacture).

It would be really great to make acquaintance with this predator

Later Striped Tigers were mostly manufactured by the Beijing Mint, I believe.

Later... You mean "after 1929" tigers? Numbered ones?

[JapanX]

Interestingly, the 2008 UBS Tammann Collection auction catalogue notes that Sun Yat Sen / Nationalist Government in Guandong also began awarding the Striped Tiger, with the enamels of the Guandong awards of poorer quality and more prone to "enamel pest" than the Central Government awards.

The catalogue also notes Lao Tian Di Zhi as one of the known suppliers to the Nationalist Guandong Government.

I can`t find this catalogue for some time... Bummer.

Looking good... Hardcover... Chalk overlay paper... :)

[drclaw]

The UBS catalogue would have to be the most useful single resource around. All colour photos, extensive descriptions in German and English, and weighs more than two telephone directories.

I'm eternally grateful to Paul Wood at Morton & Eden for mine - he gave me his last spare copy. You might be lucky finding one on ebay.

Order of the Striped Tiger

"Later... You mean "after 1929" tigers? Numbered ones?" The Tigers weren't numbered and ceased being awarded after 1929 after the Nationalists took control of the central government.

The early 1st Class insignia were awarded with a red/yellow sash. This later changed to a light green/yellow sash, similar to the Second Class. I'm not entirely sure when this change occurred however without having more access to award documentation.

I might be generalising here, but the tigers of these earlier insignia have a more natural, "powerful" appearance and darker, more natural colours.

The tigers of later insignia appear more "kittenish" (to borrow a phrase from Richard) with the coat painted in an almost lemony yellow.

The earlier tigers tend to fetch higher prices than the later tigers. This could well be a function of comparative rarity and aesthetics with collectors preferring the design of the earlier tigers.

Order of the Golden Grain

According to the Tammann catalogue, the Order of the Golden Grain also comprised early (1912 to circa 1916 or 1917) and later (circa 1916 or 1917 to 1929) period insignia, with the early or 1st Type insignia characterised by higher quality cloisonne enamel.

Lao Tian Di was one of the makers of these early insignia. Later insignia were mostly made by the Beijing Mint and stamped with the square "Made by Silver Bureau" mint mark.

Looking at the examples in the Tammann catalogue, the difference in the quality is very noticeable. The wheat stalks and leaves of the First Type insignia are crisply rendered with the metal lines of the cloisonne sharply defined. The filaments on the wheat heads are longer and finer, and the green leaves slender and flowing.

This could well be a function of who happened to be making the insignia at the time. It's seems logical that insignia made in the early years of the Republic could well have been made by the same master craftsmen who once worked in the Imperial cloisonne workshops, whereas by the mid-1920s some of these original craftsmen might no longer be active (whether in Lao Tian Di or elsewhere).

Also the shift in manufacturing from a workshop founded by master craftsmen like Lao Tian Di to, and I use the term cautiously here, a more mass-production oriented government mint, might also result in a decline in individual quality.

Of course, many of these arguments are my own theories only, founded on nothing more than by observing examples sold at auction!

Here's a study on Lao Tian Di from an excellent website on Chinese and Japanese cloissone:

http://www.idcloisonne.com/archivedcloisonnestudies/id8.html

Interestingly, the study also references work by Paul Kua on the Order of the White Eagle published in the OMSA (also available on his website). http://www.medals.bravehost.com/earlyA01.htm#_ftn23

The Lao Tian Di study is a nice example of how our hobby can transcend medal collecting to link with recognised fields of art, in this case Chinese ceramics.

We've always known that our shiny baubles are works of art (the Persian Lion and Sun are a case in point), but it's nice when other artistic fields think so too!

[JapanX]

"Later... You mean "after 1929" tigers? Numbered ones?" The Tigers weren't numbered and ceased being awarded after 1929 after the Nationalists took control of the central government.

Indeed they weren't, so what is our period for later ones?

I might be generalising here, but the tigers of these earlier insignia have a more natural, "powerful" appearance and darker, more natural colours.

I agree, they are generally more tiger-like with actual tiger body and face (not some stage-looking "later" mutants ) and I think detailed contrast grass is another very stable feature of such "early" tigers.

Cheers,

Nick

[JapanX]

And another very interesting order.

Interesting mix of two previous designs (striped tiger and double dragon).

Unidentified one.

Maybe someone could translate the hieroglyphs on the rays?

[JapanX]

Higher class (auction house sold this one with the following legend “…This lot have been given to a French Air Force officer serving in China”)

[JapanX]

The box

[JapanX]

Lower class

[JapanX]

Interesting coloring this order has!

Cheers,

Nick

[drclaw]

Hey Nick,

I was watching that particular one and did some research. The Chinese characters read "Bi Yun Si" (Biyun Temple) and "Shou" (longevity) and "Fu" (happiness).

Bi Yun Temple or the Temple of the Azure Clouds is located in the Fragrant Hills north of Beijing. It includes the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall where his coffin was stored in 1925 before being taken to Nanjing. The temple was built during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and underwent reconstruction during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The interior buildings almost retain the style of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) completely.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/biyun.htm

The sash badge had fairly good enamel work although nowhere near the quality of the official Republican awards. It was also very flat. The suspension device suggests Republic or early Nationalist period.

What is perplexing is why would a Temple be issuing Orders in different classes including a First Class award? And why would a French Air Force officer be given one?

I contacted Galerie Numismatique who were not able to provide any documentary evidence to support their assertion that it was indeed awarded to a French Air Force officer.

A curious piece but the price (1000 euros), plus the 20% auction commission, seems a little high for an unofficial / ephemeral award with no proven provenance.

[JapanX]

Great info Gavin!

Many thanks!

Temple order... That's very unusual! And with several classes!

Another philanthropy award?

Any ideas what this stylized NV in central medallion means?

Regards,

Nick

[drclaw]

Yeah, philanthropy award (similar to the Shanxi Catastrophe Relief Merit Order) came to mind, possibly for contributions to restoring the temple, possibly for some deed related to Sun Yan Sen's funeral.

Not sure what the NV represents. It kinda looks like two bridges over a river. Probably Buddhist symbolism of some sort.