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Ancient Architecture

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Eaves Tile Ornament

Eaves-tile ornaments are small accessories in classical Chinese architecture fixed at the end of rafters for decoration and for shielding the eaves from wind and rain.

Eaves-tile ornaments emerged as a culture in their own light during the Zhou dynasty (11th century - 771 B.C.) and reached their zenith during the Qin and Han dynasties (221B.C. - 220 A.D.). In the intervening years they underwent the transition from a half-round design to a cylindrical design, and from plain surface to decorative patterns, from intaglio to bas-relief carvings, from lifelike imagery to abstraction, and from patterns to inscriptions, until they became an art that involved language, literature, aesthetics, calligraphy, carving, decoration and architecture, with themes that ran the gamut from nature and ecology to mythology, totems, history, palaces, yamens, mausoleums, place names, auspicious phrases, folklore, and family names. Together the eaves-tile ornaments form a history book that reflects vividly the natural scenery, humanities and political science and economics. The Beijing Museum of Ancient Ceramic Civilization is billed as the nation's first exhibition centre of ancient eaves tiles: its collection of more than 400 eaves tiles has no lack of rare and valuable pieces of art.

Note:
Yamen: a government office or building in feudal China.

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