UCLA

Assembled from un-faceted, polished pieces of gems, hat finials (maoding 帽頂 or guanding 冠頂), were worn by members of the imperial family and officials of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). With Manchurian freshwater pearls representing the imperial clan, the nine-rank order of officials manifested itself in gemological terms: ruby for official of the highest rank, followed by sapphire, coral, lapis lazuli, quartz, tridacna shell, gold, and silver for officials of the lowest rank. In this thesis, I examine the hat finials’ embeddedness in the production of space, meaning, and hierarchy at the Qing court. Investigating three types of evidence: visual representations, textual records, and extant objects, my thesis demonstrates how the mobility and multivalency of gems conflicted with the Qing court’s attempt to impose a universalized sense of order. With their efflorescent shimmer, the gems on hat finials challenged the structures of identification and categorization at the Imperial Workshop, and raised new issues concerning visibility, mobility, and order in the visual world of the Qing.