This robe is identifiable as a woman's court coat by the fact that it has no vent at the front and back and the additional band of ornament at the top of the sleeve extensions. By edict, the twelve symbols of Imperial authority were reserved for the Emperor alone, and the Empress would have used five of the twelve symbols. However, it appears that the Empress Dowager used all twelve symbols when she ruled during the minority of her son, and again toward the very end of her life. A photograph of the Empress Dowager, Cixi, in the Freer Gallery of Art shows her wearing such a robe. The photograph is reproduced by Gary Dickinson and Linda Wrigglesworth in Imperial Wardrobe, London, 1990, p. 93, pl. 75

A similar robe was included in the exhibition, Chinese Textiles, Spink & Son Ltd., London, December 5-23, 1994, illustrated by Jacqueline Simcox in the Catalogue, p. 53, no. 53. Compare, also, the robe included in the exhibition, Secret Splendours of the Chinese Court, Qing Dynasty Costume from the Charlotte Hill Grant Collection, Denver Art Museum, December 30, 1981-March 21, 1982, Catalogue, p. 61