Portrait of a Scholar-OfficialThe official Jiang Shunfu arranged to have his portrait painted wearing an official robe and hat and followed by two boy attendants, one holding a lute wrapped in cloth. During Ming and Qing times, the rank of an official was made visible by the badges he wore on his robes. The pair of cranes on Jiang’s badge shows he held a first-rank post in the civil service hierarchy. (From Mingqing renwuxiaoxiang huaxuan [Nanjing: Nanjing Bowuguan], pl 16/Visual Connection Archive)