Antique Chinese Roof Tile: Forbidden City Gold

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NEW SHIPMENT OF 50 TILES!! I found another of the small, family-owned factories that produce the mythological animal roof tiles for the historical buildings of the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and the religious temples of Beijing. I also found out that these little, family-owned factories are closing, because they have used coal to fire the pottery kilns, and cannot afford to upgrade to burn natural gas. This is another unforeseen cost of Beijing trying to clean up their air quality (in advance of the Olympics this coming summer). I do know it was very hard to find this factory--we drove around for nearly a week, asking in different villages for directions to Imperial Potteries for the Emperor. This factory is located in the countryside of Beijing, China. These tiles were cast over 100 years ago, and most probably almost 150 years ago. Typically, the tiles are replaced every 150-200 years, and extras are made so that they can be replaced without being obviously new. These are some of the surplus replacements . The color of the tile indicates which kinds of buildings it has been made, and who would have owned the buildings. Religious buildings are designated with tiles in blue, while the Summer Palace uses green, the Forbidden City uses the gold signifying the Emperor, and the Temple of Heaven is the read more

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