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Judging from the above discussion, it is clear that the
design of Ming empresses’ crowns did not simply revive
earlier customs, but rather elements of the past were
selectively appropriated and modified. The Ming dynasty
also continued a regulation that began in the Southern Song
dynasty, whereby only the empress among imperial women
was allowed to reproduce the dragon motif on her costume.
Surviving Ming dynasty records provide detailed dress
codes that elucidate this distinction. As noted earlier, the
routine crown of Empress Xu depicted both dragons and
phoenixes. The significance of this is clear when it is
compared to the dress code of lower-ranked consorts.
According to the Statutes, the routine court dress of
secondary consorts (huangfei 皇妃) includes a crown of luan 鸞
and feng 鳳, and a robe embroidered with images of these
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two mythical birds with similar appearances. Feng is
usually translated as ‘phoenix’, whereas there is no
consensus on the English equivalent of luan. Both appear
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on the routine court costume of the heir’s consort, while
only feng appears on the costume of the wives of princes.
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The same observation can be made of first-grade
ceremonial costumes: the empress wore a crown with nine
dragons and four phoenixes, with a large dragon at the
centre. This crown is paired with a dark blue robe
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decorated with pheasant (di 翟) motifs. Secondary consorts
wore a crown of nine pheasants and four phoenixes and a
Plate 7.7 Anonymous, Official Portrait of Yuan Empress Chabi, Wife robe decorated with further phoenixes, as did the heir’s
of Qubilai Khan. Album leaf, ink, colour and gold on silk, height consort. The burial objects of Lady Wei 魏 (d. 1451), wife of
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61.2cm, width 47.6cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei Prince Zhuang of Liang 梁莊王 (1411–41), excavated from
their shared tomb in Zhongxiang 鐘祥, Hubei 湖北
with flower design attached to the mouth of a central dragon province, include finely crafted examples of jewellery
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motif on the crowns. How this double hanging pearl depicting phoenixes with elaborate tail feathers, which
feature on Ming crowns is related to steppe customs will would have been appropriate for her rank (Pl. 7.8). Ming
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require further research. But it is interesting to note that long sumptuary laws contradict a common assumption that the
pendants attached to crowns were a feature of gold crowns phoenix represented the empress. In fact, according to the
from the Silla kingdom (57 bce–935 ce) in the Korean Statutes, the emblem that distinguished an empress from
peninsula, which in turn may be connected to crowns found other imperial and royal women during the early Ming
in the Afghanistan region. dynasty was not the phoenix but the dragon, or the dragon
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in combination with other divine birds. Indeed, in the
Plate 7.8 Gold phoenix pendant, dated 1432, Yinzuoju 銀作局 context of ceremonial costumes, the textual records indicate
(Jewellery Service). Height 14.2cm, width 7.8cm; weight 72.4g. that the phoenix might even be lower in prestige than the
Hubei Provincial Museum, excavated from the tomb of the Prince pheasant in the hierarchy of motifs, since the ordinary
Zhuang of Liang and Lady Wei at Zhongxiang, Hubei province
costume of a prince’s consort could only be decorated with
phoenixes.
The importance of the dragon as an emblem of the
empress becomes more pronounced in the portraits of
empresses that succeed Empress Xu in the period 1400 to
1450. The portrait of Empress Zhang 張 (d. 1442), consort of
the Hongxi 洪熙 emperor (r. 1425), appears very similar to
that of her predecessor (Pl. 7.9). They both wear the same
costumes and the overall design of their crowns appears the
same. However, when considered closely, the crown depicted
in Empress Zhang’s portrait clearly differs from the earlier
example and descriptions in the Statutes. The phoenixes that
adorned Empress Xu’s crown have all been replaced by
dragons, including the decoration on the curved extensions
at the back of the crown. The dragons on Empress Zhang’s
crown are also larger in size and fiercer, with powerful
bodies and flame-like forms emanating from them. Rather
than a ‘phoenix crown’, her crown can be more aptly
72 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450