Antefix Roof Tile with Lotus Flower Decoration
Location Karabalgasun
Dating 8th-9th cent.
Epoch Uyghur Empire
Material Clay
Technique Burnt
Type Excavation find
Description
Antefixes or eaves tiles differ from the other roof tiles in their rich decoration. Since they were always installed along the eaves, their position provides information about the shape of the roof. There are two types of roof tiles. Along the eaves, both types ended with a decoration. The top row of half-round tongwa tiles ended with a circular moulded plate, the eaves tile (瓦當 Wadang, literally front tile). The eaves tiles of the lower banwa were extended in a wave-like shape downwards and decorated with incisions from a stamp, as well as grooves and scratches (花邊瓦 huabianwa, literally ‘flower border tile’). The alternation of round end plates and downward-pointing wave decoration created the optical effect of a garland running along the eaves.
This eaves tile was found on the citadel of Karabalgasun. Like almost all eaves tiles from there, it is decorated with a stylised lotus flower. This decoration was also common in Tang Dynasty China at the same time.
3D Visualisation
3D Model: H. Rohland / DAI
Images: B. Tsetsegmaa / Kharakhorum Museum
Literature
Guo, Q. (2000) ‘Tile and Brick Making in China: a Study of the “Yingzao Fashi”’, Construction History, 16, pp. 3–11.
Эрдэнэбат, У. and Содномжамц, Д. (2016) ‘Уйгурын хар балгасаас олдсон нүүр ваарны төрөл, хээ чимэглэлийн тухай’, Mongolian Journal of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnology, 9(1 (471)), pp. 73–84.