Cultural Revolution Objects Artifacts

A small aluminum face of Mao, pinned over the heart. Cultural Revolution memorabilia from China gathered here includes Mao Zedong lapel pins, badges, medallions and porcelain figures from the middle of the 20th century. In the late 1960s badges were made by the millions, by factories, schools and army units, and wearing one was close to expected. They come in aluminum, painted metal, porcelain and resin, shaped as stars, discs and photographic portraits.

Also here are Cultural Revolution medallions in metal and porcelain, circular discs bearing the Chairman’s likeness, and a porcelain standing figure of Mao from Hebei Province. Seen together, the variety inside the sameness is the real subject: different alloys, different workshops, the same face in a hundred small adjustments. Collectors pin them in rows on linen inside a shadow box, where the repetition says as much as any single badge. History, issued in quantity and worn on the lapel.