The Qing court necklace (chaozhu) is composed of amber beads spaced with three green jadeite “Buddha's head” beads, a two part double gourd pierced jadeite bead (fotouta), and a flat oblong jadeite plaque suspending a green jadeite drop. The necklace would originally have had three strings of coral beads. Only one string remains, the two others are missing. The necklace was an essential part of court dress, indicating both rank and season, with different materials required for different ceremonies. The materials and form of the mandarin necklace were strictly codified in the Qing Huidian Tukao, written in the early Qing dynasty, and in the Huangchao Liqi Tushi, compiled during the Emperor Qianlong's 13th year (AD 1767). The arrangement of the necklace is related to the Buddhist rosary.
