Album Leaf from Illustrations of Costumes from the Qianlong Court

This album leaf is part of a section of the illustrations of costumes from the Qianlong court, Huangchao liqi tushi (“The Regulations for the Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the [Qing] Dynasty”). In total there are 34 folios that depict costumes appropriate for the Empress Dowager or Empress to wear at the imperial court along with short descriptive captions. This is the left leaf of one folio (attached to 2004.19.1.9) and it contains nine columns of regular script calligraphy describing the regulations for beaded court necklaces (chaozhu) for the empress dowager and empress.