Copper Bi'an Three-hole and Straight-through Bracelet Bead

Bi'an sits near the bottom of the roll of the dragon's nine sons, but he is the easiest of them to recognise: a tiger's head, round eyes, a ridge across the crown, and a mane that curls in ring after ring at either side. The Ming scholars who drew up that roll gave him a litigious temperament, and the head of this beast was often set above the gate of an old yamen prison, pressed onto the joint in the door frame, the idea being to seal the opening. Folk tradition files him with the guardians, in the same group as lions and qilin: an animal's fierceness borrowed for a door or a vessel. Brass can hold that ferocity. Cut the brows and eyes deep enough and the face stands up the moment light falls on it.

This set comes in two forms, and it is worth telling them apart before you buy. The three-hole bead is the Buddha head: three channels meet inside it, and when a strand is finished at the end and has to take a stupa and the disciple beads, this is the piece that does it. The straight-through bead has a single straight hole and the shape of a small barrel; it serves as a top bead or a spacer, and strung into the middle of a long strand it breaks the rhythm for a stretch. Old hands see the difference at a glance. Beginners often buy the wrong one, assuming a three-hole bead is simply a larger spacer, and discover at home that the channels do not line up.

Of the four versions, two are three-hole and two are straight-through, each in two sizes. The way to choose is crude: lay your beads out in a row and drop the fitting in among them. A large bead with a small fitting looks thin once strung, as though a piece from someone else's set had got mixed into yours; a fitting that overpowers the beads drags the balance down, and the bracelet keeps sliding to one side of the wrist. Beyond diameter, check the hole. Small bead holes and thick cord will not take a fitting however wide its channel, so measure the two together.

Bi'an's horns grow from the crown and the channels open at the sides, so the piece has a clear front and back. Set it right before you string. Do not discover once the knot is tied that the head is sitting askew, because at that point half the strand comes apart. On a first attempt, run the whole thing on fishing line to check the spacing, then restring on elastic; it saves cutting and re-cutting. The brass is unplated, and against sweat it darkens by degrees, the colour sinking into the crevices first while the raised brows and eyes seem to brighten. That is simply the way brass goes, not a fault.

If the darkening bothers you, wipe the piece with a soft cloth each time you take it off and keep it in a sealed bag. If it does not, let it alone: beast-mask subjects generally look more alive in shadow than in full light. A bracelet changes character entirely when the fitting changes. This one sits well with aged bodhi seed or dark wooden beads; against pale beads the dark of the brass can look merely dirty. As a gift it suits someone who already has a strand and is looking for a different way to finish it.