Buttons & Effigies 像章肖像

This piece is displayed in celebration of Women’s History Month. All women, as a group, in all cultures, under all governments deserve equal celebration. There is a little red book of Mao’s quotes like this one. She is wearing a Mao button like this one.…

It it the Chinese railway insignia. You can also see it in this painting on the man’s teacup.

The flag pin on the left is from the Beijing Workers Representative Union. On the bottom it says, 为人名服务 “Service to the people.” Year: 1967. Dimensions: 1″ x 1″ (2.5 cm x 2.5 cm). Place of origin: Beijing. The brass pin in the middle is…

The button on the left shows Mao’s silhouette against the map of China on a globe. On the back, it shows the date as 1968 and a semi-undecipherable slogan, ? ? 呼全国一片红 “The whole country is red.” During this time period, in 1968, there was…

The two buttons on the left are the same image, the colored one is 2″ (5 cm) in diameter and the smaller one is 1.5“ (3.8 cm). The back of the large button reads, “Celebrate Chairman Mao Longevity and Limitlessness.” The button on the right…

A group of Tibetans around a fire with a herd of yaks in the background.

The Tibetan man standing is wearing a Mao button.

The characters 为人名服务 “Service to the People,” written by Lin Biao. Image of the back of the badge has the characters 包头, the place of origin “Baotou.”

A large Jingdezhen porcelain Mao button. Jingdezhen is a city in Jiangsu province famous for high-quality porcelain. Porcelain has been produced there as early as the sixth century CE. It was once the manufacturing area of porcelain for the Emperors. The back view of the…