Explanatory text about the winter court robe worn by the Emperor

"The Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Present Dynasty" is an illustrated manuscript commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor (r.1736-1795). The main body of the commission began in 1750 and was completed in 1759. It was a conclusion of the Emperor's decade long efforts to regulate the ritual codes and procedures as a means of ruling since his enthronement, and serves as a record of the Emperor's passion for a rigid ritualised life.

As one of the major imperial commissions the book is of monumental scale and collaborative in nature. As many as twenty-seven court painters and calligraphers were working on the commission under five editors-in-chief, Yilu (1695-1767), Jiang Pu (1708-1761), Wang Youdun (1692-1758), Guanbao (?-1776) and He Guozong (?-1766). After editing and further expansion in the ensuing years, the manuscript was printed by the Palace Publications Office in the Wuying Palace in 1766, and it was finally included as part of the Four Treasures imperial library project in 1773. For that purpose seven copies were produced and stored in libraries across the empire. The book consists of six parts - ceremonial vessels, scientific equipments, dress, musical instruments, insignia, and weaponry, containing more than 1300 leaves of illustrations and explanatory texts.

The museum's collection of the manuscript is incomplete. All its leaves, together with those in the British Library, in the National Museums of Scotland and in the National Museum of Ireland, may have been part of the version kept in the Wenyuan Pavilion library in the Yuanming yuan Summer Palace, Beijing.

The current two pages bear an explanatory text about the materials and the use of the winter court robe worn by the Emperor. The text may be translated as follows: “One of the Winter Court Robe worn by the Emperor. Note respectfully: According to the regulation of the present Dynasty, the Emperor takes it into wear from the 1st of the 11th month until New Year’s day. The colour of the Winter Robe is bright yellow, but when praying for grain at the Southern Altar blue is worn. The collar and skirt of the Robe are all trimmed with undyed sable, while the sleeves are trimmed with perfumed sable with ornamentation. In front, at the back and on the shoulders is a full-face dragon respectively, while on the skirt are six running dragons arranged along with twelve symbols. On the Robe generally are depicted five-coloured clouds.”