The brightly colored tiles on these shelves come from Sardis, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, in lands that now are part of modern Turkey. The Lydian kingdom was known for its wealth and receptiveness to Greek culture. The tiles are made of terracotta, the same baked clay potters use to make ceramic vessels. These tiles decorated the rooflines and outer walls of houses. In places like Lydia and southern Italy, where native stone was scarce or of poor quality, terracotta served as a substitute for stone in architecture.

The tiles were meant to be functional as well as decorative. You see one with a protruding spout that helped drain water from the eaves. The left-most tile shows the powerful body of an animal rising up on a bold diagonal. Placed along the sweeping lines of a roof, this beast would have seemed to leap up with them. The motifs you see in these tiles developed in East Greek art and became staples in decoration throughout the Greek world. Lotus blossoms and palmettes like these decorate Greek jewelry and vases, as well as buildings.

On the upper shelf, find the second tile from the left. The egg-shaped forms alternating with thin strands are an early version of the egg-and-dart, one of the most characteristic and long-lived mouldings in classical architecture. On the wall underneath the shelves, you'll see a photograph of a reconstructed Lydian house complete with tiles just like these.