Tile Cap with Kalavinka
Earthenware
Tile Cap with Kalavinka
CHINA; Tang dynasty
This clay tile cap shows a kalavinka wearing a crown with long ribbons. The long face is indistinct, but the feathers of the wings extending from the shoulders are depicted very clearly. The lower part of the image has been damaged, although features of the lower garment and joined palms are still visible. The remaining surface consists of vertical and wavy lines.
Both circular and semicircular tile caps are used in traditional Chinese architecture as a form of protection, as well as for decoration. This is a rare example of such an architectural decoration from the Tang dynasty.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts, page 337.
Cite this article:
Hsingyun, et al. "Tile Cap with Kalavinka." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts , vol. 18, 2016, pp. 337.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Youji, Stefanie Pokorski, Mankuang, and Wen Fan. 2016. "Tile Cap with Kalavinka" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts , 18:337.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Youji, Pokorski, S., Mankuang, & Fan, W.. (2016). Tile Cap with Kalavinka. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts (Vol. 18, pp. 337).
@misc{Hsingyun2016,
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Youji and Pokorski, Stefanie and Mankuang and Fan, Wen,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts },
pages = 337,
title = {{Tile Cap with Kalavinka}},
volume = 18,
year = {2016}}
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Youji and Pokorski, Stefanie and Mankuang and Fan, Wen,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts },
pages = 337,
title = {{Tile Cap with Kalavinka}},
volume = 18,
year = {2016}}