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.