White Copper Zhong Kui Pendant and Necklace

Images of Zhong Kui travel two roads in folk practice. One is the judge hung in the hall at the Dragon Boat Festival, the other the door god pasted up at the year's end. The same face serves both occasions, which is rare among deity images. The painter aims for severity with a scholar's air inside it; pure ferocity and he turns into a demon. The “judge” in the title means a magistrate of the underworld, and since Zhong Kui's office there is close to a judge's, folk practice merged the two.

The legend has Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ill and dreaming of a small demon causing trouble, when a large ghost came in, seized the demon and ate it. It named itself Zhong Kui, a metropolitan graduate of Zhongnan who had failed the examination for his ugly face and dashed his head against the steps and died. The emperor woke cured and ordered Wu Daozi to paint the figure. That is legend, recorded in Song colophons, and it cannot be read as history. Later writers describe Wu Daozi's stroke in detail, down to what the emperor gave as a reward when he woke. The details cannot be checked; the story is complete.

The difficulty in a white-copper figure relief is the beard and the robe. The curly beard has to stand hair by hair, which depends on the casting rising high enough and the finishing being fine enough. The robe folds need turns, a few lines that let you see the cloth is soft. Done badly it is a mass of bumps: a shape from a distance, no brushwork up close. Zhong Kui's sash and robe are the skeleton of the whole piece. Loosen the belt and the figure won't stand; let the hem scatter and the plaque becomes a lump.

The pendant alone is just the plaque, and you supply the cord; the version with a chain comes already strung, so it hangs straight out of the box. The plaque is long vertically, so the cord should be short and let it sit high on the chest. Too long and the plaque turns over. Choose a heavier square-link chain; a fine one cannot hold up that face. The back is left plain, and a single character for “subdue” can be cut there, or nothing at all. Engraving must be shallow; deep and it bulges the front. The chain length adjusts and the clasp sits at the nape, so you can fasten it yourself. Take a lobster clasp over a spring one; it lasts longer.

For a friend in business, say it holds the shop steady rather than that it draws wealth; for an older relative you can bring up the tale of Zhong Kui marrying off his sister, which sounds auspicious. Anyone who finds the face frightening has probably not seen it often. His birthday is set differently from place to place, midsummer in some accounts and the year's end in others, so ask before you give. Some people give Zhong Kui to someone in officialdom, which doesn't quite work. He catches ghosts; he doesn't manage promotions, and the wrong meaning is simply awkward. A gift given right is a kindness; given wrong it is a burden.