By the sound of it, it was one of his favorite, priceless, Ming vases.

The Mongol dynasty lasted less than a century, but the Ming, the native Chinese dynasty which succeeded it, reigned for nearly 300 years and despatched expeditions which reached India, Ceylon and East Africa.

It is a golden yellow bronze, called seniokuthis being the Japanese pronunciation of Suen-t, the era of the Ming dynasty of China when this compound was invented.

The native dynasty (Ming) which supplanted them established their residence at Nan-king ("South Court"), but this proved so inconvenient that Yunglo, the third sovereign of the dynasty, reoccupied Ta-tu, giving it then, for the first time, the name of Pe-king ("North Court").

In 1644 the Ming succumbed to the attacks of the Manchus, a northern tribe who captured Peking and founded the present imperial house.