Online The Met Store Retro 51 Chinese Tiger Rank Badge Rollerball Pen

The perfect Met Museum souvenir.

The pretty pattern on this rollerball pen from Retro 51 nods to an 18th-century Chinese rank badge featuring a ferocious tiger beneath swirling clouds. Such spectacularly embroidered badges were worn by government officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties; badges with birds indicated a civil official while animals such as the tiger were reserved for military officers, and each creature corresponded to a specific rank.