Watchtower

Shuishang louge. Red terracotta with lead glaze. Henan. China. Later Han period (20-240 AD). This tower keeps in place the crossbowmen who defended it. Only the animals originally represented on the edge of the basin are missing, and some animal traces remain on basin. Similar fortifications, built in the middle of ponds, ensured the political domination of the great landowners over their possessions at the moment when central authority was weakening. They are, moreover, an interesting testimony on the architecture of the time, advanced roofs, arrangement of beams, or use of glazed terracotta tiles. One will notice, under the beautiful iridescence taken by the covered in the atmosphere of the tomb, the detail of the ornaments painted on the facade.