Imperial seal from Winter Palace to be auctioned  

疑似圆明园流散文物将被拍卖 或为乾隆御用印章

(ECNS) -- A jade seal thought to be a relic lost from China's Old Summer Palace (also called Winter Palace) will be auctioned at Sotheby's on Tuesday.

With four Chinese characters reading, "xiu mu jia yin" (beautiful tree, excellent shade) carved on its face, the square seal might be an imperial jade seal owned by Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) of China's Qing dynasty, according to experts.

Because "xiu mu jia yin" is the name of a previous structure built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong in Old Summer Palace, experts speculated the seal was also made during the same period.

Since it is the first time that the seal is being shown to the public, it might have been obtained from overseas collectors, according to Liu Yang, a member of the Academic Committee of Old Summer Palace Society.

It may be a relic from Old Summer Palace, Liu added.

The seal is expected to be auctioned for HK$8 million to HK$12 million ($1 million to $1.5 million).