Festive Attire of a Shizi’s Fujin

Festive dress and ceremonial distinctions

A *shizi's fujin* was the principal wife of an invested heir to a Qing prince of the first rank. Her festive attire (*jifu*) was intended for specified celebratory occasions, not for all the solemn sacrificial and major court ceremonies that required *chaofu*. These two forms of dress had distinct associated headdresses and garments.

Volume 6 of the *Huangchao liqi tushi*, in discussing the festive outer jacket of a prince's principal consort, prescribes dark blue with four roundels of five-clawed golden dragons: frontal dragons appear on the front and back, and moving dragons on the shoulders. The text explicitly extends this jacket arrangement to the wives of *shizi* and to certain princesses and imperial-clan women, including *gulun* and *heshuo* princesses. A related provision for an imperial son's wife's festive crown specifies dark fur and a red-gemstone finial and supplies cross-references for additional ranked women.

Interpreting surviving garments

A festive outer jacket was worn over other clothing and should not be confused with the patterns prescribed for the robe beneath it. Nor does the presence of dragon roundels alone identify an item's owner as a *shizi's fujin*. Attribution requires consideration of roundel placement, headwear and materials, occasion, palace records and provenance. The garment should likewise be distinguished from the empress's dragon jacket and from the outer jacket belonging to a formal court ensemble.

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

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