A YELLOW-GROUND KESI INFORMAL ROBE

The classical tailoring of the current robe with its narrow and layered sleeves and wide borders, as well as the decoration, are typical of the fashions worn by Manchu noblewomen associated with the court of the Dowager Empress Cixi. Robes associated with the Dowager Empress are often decorated with auspicious symbols such as the shou characters seen on the present robe. The present robe has the additional decoration of bamboo, zhu, which is also associated with longevity because of its durability; it is also a homophone for 'congratulate'.

A yellow-ground robe similarly decorated with gold shou characters, but with the addition of peonies, that once belonged to Dowager Empress Cixi, is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is illustred in Yan Yong and Fang Hongjun, ed., The Splendors of Imperial Costume: Qing Court Attire from the Beijing Palace Museum, Beijing, pp. 118-19, no. 81.