This surcoat is known as a bufu (literally, 'the robe with a badge'), worn over ceremonial or formal robes during ritual and court ceremonies during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This particular example would have been worn by a prince, and ought to be distinguished from the Emperor's surcoat (the gunfu) or those worn by the Crown Prince (the long gua). According to the Huangchao Liqi Tushi ('Illustrations of Imperial Ritual Paraphernalia'), the front roundel on an Emperor's gunfu must have the "five-coloured clouds", a shou (longevity) character above the front-facing five-clawed dragons, and symbols of the sun and the moon respectively in the roundels on each shoulder, to symbolise his authority in the cosmos to perform sacrifices. The roundels worn by the Crown Prince would not bear the shou character, nor the symbols of the sun and moon, but will have the clouds of five colours. These elements are absent from the roundels in this bufu, but the four roundels of front-facing dragons indicate that the robe would have been worn by one of the other imperial princes.