But there is a major problem here: Yongle porcelain has a recessed base, but the base of this plate is flat.

“This plate is imitating Yongle porcelain, but the base is flat? If you connect the whole thing and examine it closely, you can be sure that the base should be Ming Yongle porcelain, but it’s flat—could it be that it wasn’t originally a porcelain plate?”

If it’s not a porcelain plate, then what could it be?

Brian Carter silently closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, searching through all his knowledge about Yongle porcelain in his mind.

After just a few seconds, Brian Carter’s eyelids twitched—he finally remembered something.

Porcelain tile!

Perfectly flat, a square blue-and-white porcelain piece about ten centimeters across and two or three centimeters thick—this is a porcelain tile.

Blue-and-white porcelain tile? Thinking of blue-and-white porcelain tiles, Brian Carter immediately thought of the Bao’en Temple Pagoda!!

Having been in the antique world for so long, especially with his expertise in porcelain, he had a deep impression of this astonishing giant pagoda, known as “the First Pagoda under Heaven,” “China’s greatest antique, the grandest kiln ware of Yongle,” and ranked alongside the Great Wall, the Roman Colosseum, the ancient underground tomb of Alexandria, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa as one of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World.

After all, this pagoda is extremely famous.

The Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang’s fourth son Zhu Di, was a man of great ambition—he seized the throne from his own nephew, and his character was one of action rather than stillness. He accomplished many great things in his life.

He built the Forbidden City—the magnificent palace complex we can still see in the capital today was first constructed by the Yongle Emperor. He also compiled the “Yongle Encyclopedia.” Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming dynasty and established the capital in Nanjing, even setting a family rule that the capital must not be moved, but the Yongle Emperor ignored this and moved the capital to Beijing.

These are all things that only a person of great ambition could achieve. He also organized Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Seas, leaving a significant mark in history.

Besides these well-known achievements, the Yongle Emperor did two other major things.

One was the creation of the Yangshan Stele.

Mentioning this stele would astonish modern people. The Yongle Emperor had it carved in Yangshan, in the suburbs of Nanjing, to commemorate Zhu Yuanzhang, to show his filial piety and to reinforce his legitimate claim to the throne.

Unless you see it in person, it’s hard to imagine how huge this stele is. If it could be erected, it would be over seventy meters tall—equivalent to a modern twenty-five or twenty-six-story building.

The stele is divided into three parts: the body, the head, and the base. All three parts still lie in Yangshan today, unable to be erected. Even with modern technology, it’s impossible to lift these three massive pieces and assemble them, let alone with manpower six hundred years ago.

The total weight of the Yangshan Stele is estimated at over thirty thousand tons. To hoist something that heavy onto the base and then place the head on top is impossible even now. As a result, after the Yongle Emperor had it carved, the stele became a huge unfinished project, lying in Yangshan for over six hundred years.

Think about it: the Yongle Emperor wanted to carve the stele to commemorate Zhu Yuanzhang, to show the world his filial piety, and to declare that he was still Zhu Yuanzhang’s good son—even if he took the throne from his nephew, it was legitimate, and it would help consolidate his power. But in the end, the stele couldn’t be erected and became an unfinished project. You can imagine how awkward and ridiculous that must have been.

It was precisely because of this that the Yongle Emperor built the Bao’en Temple and its pagoda in Nanjing.

It’s even possible that before the Yangshan Stele was finished, the Yongle Emperor had already anticipated this outcome, so the construction of the Bao’en Temple Pagoda began before the stele project was completed.

However, this pagoda was not just to commemorate Zhu Yuanzhang, but also his mother.

The entire Bao’en Temple Pagoda was built to imperial standards, and the construction cost a staggering 2,485,000 taels of silver. Under the supervision of Huang Ligong, Vice Minister of Works during the Yongle reign, and the famous eunuch Zheng He, it took nineteen years to complete, employing over 100,000 craftsmen.

The pagoda had nine stories and eight sides, about 78 meters tall—comparable to a modern twenty- or thirty-story building.

Six hundred years ago, it was definitely the tallest structure in Nanjing, and the entire pagoda was constructed from white porcelain and five-colored glazed bricks, each brick carved with images of Buddhas and other designs.

It is said that after the pagoda was completed, there were 146 beacon lamps inside and outside the nine stories, each with a wick about an inch thick. By day, the pagoda shone as brightly as the sun; by night, it was ablaze with light, truly spectacular. It is the only glazed pagoda in China with historical records, and its unique artistic and ornamental value is renowned at home and abroad. In particular, its exquisite glazed art represents a pinnacle of architectural achievement in Chinese history.

Zhang Dai of the Ming dynasty once wrote in “Tao’an Mengyi”: “China’s greatest antique, the grandest kiln ware of Yongle, is the Bao’en Pagoda. The pagoda was completed in the early Yongle years. Without the spirit, resources, and command of a founding emperor, and the courage and talent to undertake such a project, it could not have been accomplished.”