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Jewellery in the Royal Palace

In the Palace Museum collection are thousands of pieces of jewellery, mainly from the Qing empresses and concubines.

There are two major sources for this jewellery, one being the department set up by the Qing royal family and engaged in the production of their jewellery, and the other from the tributes of other nations. Sorted by functions, they can be classified into five categories: headwear (including earrings and necklaces); decorations on official uniforms; official headwear; hand jewellery (including rings and bracelets), and miscellaneous. Made of gold, silver, jade and other precious stones, such as emerald, crystal and coral, the pieces are also mini-encyclopedias of ancient forms and fabrication techniques.

Of the five categories, headwear is the most common. Emerald and feather hair clasps stored in the Palace Museum are typically delicate and hard to produce or to reproduce. Manchu women regarded it an honour to wear as much jewellery on the head as possible, so it is not surprising that most headwear is inlaid with all kinds of precious stones. The Manchu also had an earring tradition different from the Han, that is, both ears should wear three earrings.

The design of Qing jewellery favours the images of cucurbit (a type of gourd) and bat. The Chinese word for cucurbit is similar to that for offspring and the word for bat is synonymous with fortune.