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Lot Essay
According to R. Kerr, 'Celestial Creatures: Chinese tiles in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Apollo, March 1999, pp. 15-21, ornamental roof tiles were used in China not only for decorative purposes but "to aid communion with the celestial world and to attract good protection and blessings." The dragon was a popular ornamental element, as it was supposed to prevent fire. Roof tiles or architectural elements of this size and particular form appear to be unusual, as most of those published are in the form of a dragon's forequarters, which would have been placed at the end of a roof ridge. As with the present examples they were to be seen from both sides, but were simpler in form. For a drawing depicting the placement of roof tiles on a modern roof, especially those known as chiwen (owl's lips) which were placed at either end of a roof ridge, as well as the figure of a long scaly dragon see, R. Kerr, op. cit., fig. 4.
The present dragon tiles bear more resemblence to a large scaly dragon being ridden by a guardian figure used as wall decoration and illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, Diaosu bian, 6, Yuan Ming Qing diaosu, Beijing, 1988, p. 102, no. 112. Like the present examples, the dragon is very lively and modeled in very high relief, but unlike them it is one-sided.
The present dragon tiles bear more resemblence to a large scaly dragon being ridden by a guardian figure used as wall decoration and illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, Diaosu bian, 6, Yuan Ming Qing diaosu, Beijing, 1988, p. 102, no. 112. Like the present examples, the dragon is very lively and modeled in very high relief, but unlike them it is one-sided.