As a record of the emperor's appearance and a tool to strengthen the imperial power, the imperial portrait had an important position in the court culture of the Qing Dynasty. Since the Kangxi Emperor's time, the Chaozhu has become an indispensable element in the emperor's portrait, a change that profoundly reflects the high degree of centralisation of power in the Qing Dynasty and the exchange and fusion of cultures of the Manchus, the Chinese, and the Mongols. In this paper, we use the method of Pannowski's iconography to explain and interpret the origin, form and wearing regulations of the Chaozhu, to deeply analyse the symbolism of the iconic action of the emperor's hand cupping the Buddha's head in the portraits, and to reflect on the ideas of monarchical power and religious concepts embedded in them.