Chinese Roof Tile

Heavy dark cylinder with a grimacing face stamped on its end.

This chinese roof tile is from China. In traditional Chinese architecture, glazed or gray clay tiles are laid in overlapping courses on timber-framed roofs, whose broad curved eaves are a defining feature of the style. Thick, rounded bar with a smooth grey-black body ends in a flat circular face carrying a scowling, bulge-browed mask in relief. A beaded ring frames the mask. Patches of rust-brown show in the recesses. It is 10.5 inches wide, 4.25 deep and 6.5 high.

One end is all business, the other is all grimace.