Court Beads of a Non-Imperial Duke

A regulated ceremonial accessory

The court beads (*chaozhu*) of a *mingong*, or non-imperial duke, were a strand of ceremonial beads worn with prescribed court attire. They were not merely everyday Buddhist prayer beads under another name. Volume 5 of the *Huangchao liqi tushi* allows materials such as coral, lapis lazuli, turquoise and amber, with additional precious decorative elements, and prescribes a dark-blue suspension cord.

The same section outlines eligibility for court beads among other persons below the ducal rank, including qualifying civil officials of the fifth rank and above, military officials of the fourth rank and above, and some capital-based, Hanlin, censorial, palace-guard and ritual-office personnel. The source therefore does not make court-bead use an unconditional entitlement of every official.

Composition and hierarchy

A complete ceremonial strand incorporated beads, larger marker beads, subsidiary drops, rear pendants and its suspension cord; these elements had to be assessed together under the relevant regulations. The dark-blue cord associated with this non-imperial noble category must not be conflated with the bright-yellow cord prescribed for the emperor and empress. The entry concerns a class of institutional accessories. Without an object record or a person's inventory, one cannot infer which particular strand an individual duke possessed or wore at a given ceremony.

For related historical context and vocabulary, consult Festive Dress (Jifu) in the Qing Dynasty.

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