Lost Summer Palace bronze panel returned

A long-lost bronze relic from the Summer Palace in Beijing has been returned from overseas and was transferred back to its home on Wednesday.

The bronze latticed panel, 1.05 meters long by 19.8 centimeters wide, was originally set on a window of Baoyun Ge ("a pavilion of treasured clouds") in the compound of the former royal resort during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It was lost in the early 20th century.

Li Lei, a Chinese collector, found the latticed panel in an auction catalog last year in France. Being familiar with patterns of Qing royal relics, he suspected it was from imperial architecture during the reign of Qianlong (1736-95), and was probably from the Summer Palace.