File:EXAMINATION OF A CULPRIT before a Mandarin.jpg

English: Drawing by William Alexander, draughtsman of the Macartney Embassy to China in 1793. Image taken from The Costume of China, illustrated in forty-eight coloured engravings, published in London in 1805. The subject is a female charged with prostitution. The magistrate is known to be of royal blood, by the circular badge on his breast instead of a square one; the secretary, who is taking minutes, wears on his girdle his handkerchief and purses, together with a case containing his knife and chopsticks. The cap worn by the officer of police is distinguished by certain letters which denote the name of the mandarin he serves.