This type of jewellery is normally worn by 18th century Qing Court ladies over their formal robes, such as those depicted on a number paintings in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, illustrated in Qingdai Gongting Huihua, Paintings by the Court Artists of the Qing Court, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 205, no. 49, Portrait of Empress Xiaoxian; p. 207, no. 51, Portrait of Imperial Honourable Concubine Huixian (fig. 1). Undoubtedly, through strict Court regulations such collars continued to be in use well into the late Qing period, as evidenced by photographs of Wan Rong (fig. 2) the consort of Xuantong (r. 1909-1916), and Wen Xiu, Xuantong's concubine, both illustrated in Exquisite Figure Pictures from the Palace Museum, Forbidden City Publishing House, pp. 120-121.

Through a system of highly regulated Qing code for Court paraphernalia, a similar collar is among a group of manuscripts, now in the Victoria and Albert collection, illustrating the type of dress permitted to be worn at Court. Cf. M. Wilson, 'New Research on the Ceremonial Paraphernalia Album in the V&A', T.O.C.S., vol. 68, 2003-2004, where a collar for a first grade imperial concubine is illustrated, p. 56, fig. 12. It has been recorded that "accessories for the female members of the Imperial family include the hat, 3 pairs of earrings, collar, 3 strings of necklaces, headband and kerchief", op. cit., p. 55.