This Japanese roof tile is made of a dark carved wood. It consists of two sections: a carved dove and the roof tile itself. The piece is seen installed on a window ledge overlooking the Gardner Museum’s garden courtyard. The dove looks quite realistic perched on the roof tile. The tile is an open half-pipe shape facing down with one end closed into a full circle decorated in the depressed center by a stylized, five petaled flower head. Because of this closed end, the tile branch tilts upward at an approximate 30 degree angle when set on a flat surface, as it is in the picture. The dove perches on the center of the uptilted tile with its talons splayed and its body facing toward the closed end, toward the viewer. Its head is cocked. The bird looks out and away from the viewer toward the courtyard. Its fat, rounded body has small overlapping incisions carved on it to indicate feathers. The bird’s wings are tightly tucked and its tail feathers bundled and pointed toward the left side of the window.