Pattern, colour and lustre---the characteristics that attracted the Mactaggarts to Chinese textiles---are the very aspects that were most highly esteemed by the civilization that created and used them....From ancient times, silk came to embody the cultural values of the highest echelons of that society: scholarship, hierarchy, precedent and wealth, but particularly the cosmic intent of imperial rule.---Authors' Introduction.<BR><BR>In Emblems of Empire: Selections from the Mactaggart Art Collection, John Vollmer and Jacqueline Simcox showcase 72 objects focused on the emperors of China. The Mactaggart Art Collection at the University of Alberta Museums is one of the foremost collections of Chinese paintings and textiles in the world and this pioneering study of the artifacts enhances our understanding of it immeasurably. Full-colour images and informative text introduce the objects from the collection and show how they served as emblems of imperial order and power during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). Historians, scholars, collectors, museum visitors, students, and individuals interested in Chinese art will be stirred by the sensuous interplay of hierarchy and design in the painted and textile arts of the Chinese Imperial court, as explored and illuminated in this book.