The silver knockers were sold off by Beijing Rongbao Auction Ltd for 1.9 million yuan ($257,050), with a 228,000 yuan commission. Experts said the knockers were rare, as the imperial family commissioned them in the 1700s to be made in the design of a taotie, a ferocious mythical purple clay teapots animal that was popular in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100 BC-771 BC). They are believed to have been specially made for Yuanmingyuan. The summer resort was the largest imperial garden in  the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). An expert from the Yuanmingyuan Society said the organization objected to the auction of Yuanmingyuan antiques taken  by foreign countries, believing it would hinder efforts to return the antiques to the imperial garden.

Yuanmingyuan spokesman Zong Tianliang said: “The knockers were of historic value; and it is good for them to return to where they were, rather than putting them under the hammer.” However, the company said authorities approved the auction, and they had not received official objections from the Yuanmingyuan administration office. Located in northwestern Beijing, construction on Yuanmingyuan began in 1709 and was finished in 1744. It was burned down by British and French troops in 1860. It was sacked and burned down again, after a partial restoration Chinese lanterns, in 1900, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces – troops sent by Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Tsarist Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria – occupied Beijing.