Gems and Official ranks of the Qing Dynasty

The official hat of the Qing Dynasty was invariably topped with a knob made of a gem or silver and gold ornament, which indicated the wearer's rank and power.

A ruby knobrepresented a first-rank official. The most commonlknobs were rosy red, or bright red, while the most precious were bloody red.

 A coral knob signified a second-rank official. The coral was hard and red in most cases，with the bright red ones being the most precious.

A sapphire knob referred to a third-rank official, with the best such knobs being blue sky in color.

Winter hat for third-rank officials

A knob made of lapis lazuli in the colors of azure blue, sky blue, or indigo was attached to a fourth-rank official.

A crystal knob was usually found on a fifth-rank official's hat, with the blue crystal being especially precious.

A sixth-rank official's hat was often topped with a tridacna knob, which was the shell of a mollusk, a kind of giant clam, and was seen as one of the seven treasures (gold and silver, colored glaze, tridacna, agate, coral, amber and pearl ) in ancient times.

A fifth-rank official's summer hat

The knob of a seventh-rank official' hat was usually made of plain gold.

A knob made of gold with characters cut in intaglio represented the eighth-rank official while one made of gold with characters cut in relief was found on the hat of the ninth-rank official. A hat with no knobs on top was worn by officials of no rank.