Forbidden City
— the yellow that only emperors were allowed to wear.
Not only on a wall.
“A walled palace city begun in 1406 and finished in 1420, the seat of twenty-four emperors across the Ming and Qing dynasties. Yellow-tiled roofs run the length of a 72-hectare rectangle aligned on Beijing's central axis. The vermilion walls hold the cold off in winter; the gold finials catch the first light over the eastern hills.
Forbidden City, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Imperial palace complex at the centre of old Beijing, laid along the city's north-south axis. Construction ran from 1406 to 1420 under the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty, and the palace served as residence and seat of court for twenty-four emperors of the Ming (1420-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties. The compound covers roughly 72 hectares with around 980 surviving buildings, enclosed by a 7.9-metre brick wall and a 52-metre moat. UNESCO inscribed the site in 1987 as the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Two colours run the palace. Imperial yellow, reserved by edict for the emperor, covers every roof in tile-work that ranges from gold to deep amber. Vermilion red runs the walls and gates. White marble forms the terraces and balustrades of the great halls, carved with dragons along the central ramps. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, Taihedian, stands at about 35 metres and is the largest surviving timber structure in China. The scheme repeats through Zhongnanhai and at the Temple of Heaven complex south of the city.
The Palace Museum has been open to the public since 1925. Tickets are timed and the daily cap holds at 80,000 visitors. The site closes on Mondays except in peak July and August. Entry runs through the Meridian Gate on the south, exit through the Gate of Divine Prowess on the north, with the Treasure Gallery and Clock Gallery requiring supplemental tickets. Spring and autumn give the softest light on the roofs; winter mornings can be cold and clear, with smaller crowds threading the long axial corridors.