Family Portrait

This portrait features four generations of a distinguished northern family from the late Qing dynasty, assembled to honour the birthday of the family matriarch. On the left, five men wear their formal attire with rank badges, court necklaces, and traditional hats. On the right, the women wear full-length Manchu robes to distinguish themselves from the female servants dressed in traditional Han Chinese two-piece attire. The matriarch’s three grandsons offer her nine jade-inlaid wooden ruyi scepters, placed on a brown fabric wrap, as a symbol of blessings and prosperity.