Cixi attaches great importance to personal image. According to the oil painting portrait painted for her by Carl, an American female painter, Cixi wore a shroud embroidered with wisteria on a yellow background, and many pearls and jade jewelry were inserted on the "big wings" on her head: emerald hair clips, phoenix hair clips, gold squares, jewel headdresses, pearl headbands and so on. Very elegant and rich.
The portrait of Cixi painted by Karl.
De Ling recorded in "Two Years of Qing Palace" that Cixi wore two bead bracelets, a pair of jade bracelets and several gem ring every day. "She wears a three-inch gold finger guard on the middle finger and little finger of her right hand, and a jade finger guard of the same length on the two fingers of her left hand." There are beads on the shoes, and all kinds of gems are inlaid in the middle.
Flower pot shoes worn by Empress Dowager Cixi.
The flowerpot shoes in the above picture were worn by Empress Dowager Cixi and are now in the Palace Museum. They are covered with precious stones, which can be said to be very beautiful.
In the book, De Ling also recorded that Empress Dowager Cixi took a mobile dressing room with her when she went to the court to meet the minister. "There are four five-grade eunuchs in front of the sedan chair, and twelve six-grade eunuchs behind the sedan chair, each holding the queen mother's clothes, shoes, towels, combs, brushes, compact boxes, mirrors of various sizes, silver ink, yellow paper, cigarettes and hookahs. The last one holds the queen mother's yellow satin stool."
This ostentation and extravagance is absolutely invincible
The ostentation and extravagance of Cixi's trip.
Every morning, "The Queen Mother always combs her hair first and then washes her face. She has dozens of different perfumes and soaps. " After washing her face, she gently wiped it with a soft towel, then sprinkled nectar and powder. This is obviously exactly the same as modern women's makeup and skin care, but today, compared with nectar, the mask is still too rough.
Empress Dowager Cixi looked at herself in the mirror.
Cixi is of course very particular about food. "Two years of Qing Palace" records that "there are 150 kinds of food on her dining table, arranged in several rows …", "Most of the dishes are pork, mutton, chickens, ducks and vegetables. There are more than ten different cooking methods for pork, and there are two kinds of meatballs: red and white ... a whole chicken and duck with clear soup and shark fin in yellow porcelain. " There are also smoked chickens and ducks, covered with branches and leaves of pine and cypress, smoked on the fire, using the fragrance of pine and cypress. "
Cixi prefers sugar to meat. At dinner time every day, several ladies-in-waiting hold yellow boxes and "take out exquisite fruit bowls and put sugar lotus seeds, walnuts and melon seeds". Besides, Cixi always eats a cup of sugar tea before going to bed. She thinks sugar tea can soothe the nerves.
Empress Dowager Cixi.
Cixi is not vague about keeping in good health. For example, she pays special attention to four seasons foot bath. The history of foot bath is thousands of years, and the earliest literature record is "Elbow Reserve Urgent Prescription" in Jin Dynasty.
The book Talking to the Maid records: "It is very important to wash the feet of the old lady in Palace of Gathered Elegance. Foot washing water is very particular. For example, it's hot and humid in dog days, then boil it with chrysanthemum, and then dry it and wash it, which can make the old lady clear-headed, improve her eyesight, keep her whole body cool and windy under her arms, and ensure that she doesn't suffer from heatstroke; If the weather is extremely cold on March 9, wash it with papaya soup to promote blood circulation, warm your knees and make your whole body as gentle and warm as spring. Of course, according to the changes of the four seasons and the sunny weather, we can add or subtract ready-made prescriptions at any time, which is also the secret of the old lady's fitness. "