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The decorative tiles of traditional Taiwanese architectures refer to first-fired white-glazed
tiles or mechanically dust-pressed tiles hand-painted or printed with decorative patterns that
after second firing could be used for decorating various architectural components. Decorative
tiles were introduced into Taiwan in the late Qing dynasty. Today, decorative tiles can still be
found on the remnant western-styled buildings as a product of the period. In the 1930s and
1970s, decorative tiles had been largely used in decorating traditional architectures, such as
ancestral halls, traditional manors and religious temples. Popular styles include Majolica tile,
hand-painted tile panel and screen-printed tile. Decorative tiles are used on traditional
architectural components such as roof ridge covers, gallery walls, window panels, and door
frames to replace traditional ornaments of stone carving, wood carving, hand-painting and
ceramic appliqué (cut-stick). This shows a surging demand for decorative tiles and a changing
trend of decorative materials during this period. After WWII, some temple managements in
northern Taiwan expanded temple complex and structures for conveniences that also called
for a change of locations for decorative tile application. Most of decorative tile companies,
originally pottery and ceramics workshops in Beitou, now instead focused on the business of
temple decorative tiles. This transformation resulted in changes of techniques and expressions
of decorative tiles and brought forth new formats and looks.
Li-Gu Company, established by Mr. Cheng-Hsiung Wang in Beitou, Taipei in 1979, has left a
rich trajectory of decorative tile works in many temple architectural components in Keelung,
Taipei City and New Taipei City. It is also one of few extant producers of decorative tiles.
Li-Gu’s decorative tiles on temple architectures reveal Mr. Wang’s experiences from Beitou’s
pottery and ceramics industry, and hand-painting, hand-glazing and tombstone making
experiences from many other artistic pottery and ceramics companies. Mr. Wang produced
decorative tiles, tabletop pieces and ritual vases as features in stylistic and thematic layout
arrangements. In addition, he also applied screen-printing techniques on tableware acquired
from Tatung Chinaware on tile panels, frames and ridge covers to respond to increasing
market demands for speed and quantity.
This thesis explores the historical context of Beitou’s pottery and ceramics industry and the
post-war development of decorative tiles by drawing from interviews with Mr. Cheng-Hsiung
Wang, the founder of Li-Gu Company, his employees and relevant temple personnel, as well
as from field research on ninety-four temples for whom Li-Gu had completed decorative tiles
assignments. Through literature analysis to compare, explain and analyze application
locations, expressions and production techniques of remnant decorative tiles from the
Japanese rule and the post-WWII period, this thesis aims to present the development of
decorative tiles in northern Taiwan temple architecture from the 1970s to the 1990s.
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