A squatting leopard was cast on one side of the bronze plate and above it a horizontal line of Chinese characters cast which reads in translation “Leopard No. 1104”. On the other side of the plate was cast “This plate is to be carried by a government warrior who keeps leopards; one who fails to carry the plate will be held guilty, so will be one who lends or borrows the plate.” In the Ming Dynasty there was a Tiger House to the northwest of the Celestial Lake (present-day Central-South Lake and North Lake-Beihai), for keeping tigers. Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of Ming, built Leopard House at the original Tiger House and built left and right wings beside the original Tiger House in 1570, the second year of the Zhengde reign. It was extended five years later at the cost of 240,000 taels of silver. Emperor Wuzong was fond of martial arts and hunting. After the Leopard House was built, he frequently stayed there and seldom managed government affairs in the Forbidden City. To protect the emperor, warriors were assigned to accompany him. This plate was cast at the time of Emperor Wuzong. The emperor eventually died in Leopard House.