Empress Xiao Qinxian is known as the Empress Dowager Cixi, Zhenglan Banner of Manzhou. She is the concubine of Emperor Xianfeng, the mother of Emperor Tongzhi and the adoptive mother of Emperor Guangxu.
The Empress Dowager Cixi considers herself the first beauty in the court. She has been pursuing an exquisite life. She strives for the most exquisite luxury, convenience, and comfort. The name “Queen Empress Luxe” has come from this.
Now I will introduce three extravagant and intimate items of Empress Dowager Cixi, one of which is now kept in the Beijing Palace Museum.
From the face to the clothing, the Empress Dowager Cixi is exquisite, maintaining her shining state, which shows her pursuit of beauty.
What’s more, we can see finger cots in every photo of Ci Xi, which can protect the long nails, and looked thinner as a whole.
Let’s look at this “Gold Zan(written 錾 in Chinese) Ancient Coin Pattern Nail Cover“, the surface of the casing and other parts are engraved with patterns, which are beautiful and fashionable, deeply loved by the Empress Dowager Cixi.
The second one is the bathtub used by Empress Dowager Cixi for bathing. It is amazingly beautiful, and there should be two such bathtubs.
The shower of Empress Dowager Cixi also divided the upper body and the lower body, at least four maids are waiting around, the process is very meticulous, and Cixi uses no less than 100 finely-crafted bath towels every time.
The third one was called the official room in the Qing Dynasty, and it was commonly known as a toilet. The Forbidden City had no toilets, so there was an “official room”.
The Empress Dowager Cixi is very clean. She has her own official room and it was given by Yuan Shikai. It looks very upscale, beautiful and practical. When not in use, it will be sprinkled with dry rosin fines.
Now, this item is kept in the Beijing Palace Museum.
