File photo of Tiger Ying, a water vessel dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100-771 BC). (China News Service)
(ECNS ) -- Tiger Ying, a bronze relic believed to have been looted from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860, was retrieved by the National Museum of China on Tuesday.
The water vessel, dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100-771 BC), named because of its tiger decorations, was auctioned in Canterbury, London, for 410,000 pounds in April.
Documents discovered by The Canterbury Auction Galleries suggest that Royal Marines Captain Harry Lewis Evans (1831-1883) took the vessel from the Imperial Palace (also known as the Yuanmingyuan) at the end of the Second Opium War.
The relic has important historical, artistic and cultural value due to its exquisite and unique tiger shape designs.
