Copper Pixiu Three-hole Bead Bracelet Charm

Of the auspicious beasts of Han China, the pixiu has the loudest reputation and is the easiest to make badly. It is recorded as far back as the Han dynasty, and its form changed several times over the centuries; stone and jade beasts in Han tombs carry its shadow, and only in the Ming and Qing did it settle into the shape we know: one horn or two, wings, a wide mouth, a round belly, crouching with the front legs braced. It is not the same creature as the Tibetan snow lion. Different lineage, and set side by side the two are easy to tell apart.

This piece is a three-hole bead with the pixiu crouched on the front, head forward, body drawn down into the base. The three channels run out through the sides and the underside: the main strand crosses, the charm hangs below. The mouth sits clear of the bore, so the teeth can only be cut as far as the lip. The back is flat and comfortable against the wrist. There is only a layer of copper between the depth of the mouth and the channel — too thin and light comes through, too thick and the beast's face goes flat.

The metal is copper, the muscles pushed up in broad planes and the mane and wings supplied with incised lines: blocks of form at a distance, line only up close. The colour leans yellow, and the patina browns the hollows. It is large for a spacer and needs main beads of eight millimetres or more to hold it. One to a strand is enough; a second makes the whole thing look clumsy.

There is a folk saying that the pixiu has a mouth but no exit, so wealth goes in and does not come out again. That is a verbal charm rather than doctrine — hear it and let it go, and do not treat it as a function of the object. The meaning of the pattern is plainer: keep a fierce beast about you for the sense of being contained. Charm aside, the thing is judged on its making — are the teeth even, the claws strong, the tail brought to a proper close. Look at the corners of the mouth: a good one carries a hint of a smile, a poor one is merely fierce.

This subject is often bought as a gift, for a friend opening a shop or a colleague who has just moved. Copper dislikes sweat, so wipe it after wearing in summer and do not let salt sit in the hollows. If a horn looks slightly bent, that is a thin place in the casting; do not try to straighten it, it will snap. A plain cord is the right accompaniment to a gift, and the box need not be large — an empty one looks worse than none at all. Do not pick the dark out of the hollows with a needle; the bright patch left behind draws the eye more than the dirt ever did.