It is inspired by the Ming Dynasty caisson ceiling in the Wanchun Pavilion of the Imperial Garden in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The caisson is a key element of Chinese wooden architecture.

BEIJING — It’s highly technical work in what looks more like a lab than a museum: A fragment of a glazed roof tile from Beijing’s Forbidden City is analyzed in a state-of-the-art X-ray ...

BEIJING (AP) — It's highly technical work in what looks more like a lab than a museum: A fragment of a glazed roof tile from Beijing’s Forbidden City is analyzed in a state-of-the-art X-ray ...

Just north of the square lies the Imperial Palace (Gugong), also known as the Forbidden City as it was the private dwelling of the Ming and Qing emperors, their huge families and 70,000 eunuchs.