Brick with a Floral Medallion Design, with the Inscription

The upper center of this brick is decorated with an eight-leafed floral medallion. Each of the four corners also carries a design, which forms a crisscross pattern of a flower when connected by other bricks. One side of the brick features two deer facing each other against an arabesque pattern, while the other side has an inscription that reads, “A person named Gunyak with the title of Sosa from the province of Hanjibeol made this brick on March 3, the 2nd year of the Tiaolu era of Chinese Tang (680).” The province of Hanjibeol refers to the province of Hanji, one of the six provinces of Silla, which suggests that each province bore a share of the burden for supplying building materials for the construction of royal palaces.