S925 Silver Zhong Kui Open Ring

The story of Zhong Kui took shape in the Tang. The tale goes that Emperor Xuanzong, ill, dreamt of a great demon catching and eating a small one, naming itself Zhong Kui; he woke cured and had Wu Daozi paint the figure. The account survives in Song notebooks; the Tang original is gone, but Zhong Kui's appearance was fixed from then on — leopard head, curling beard, one bared arm, black boots. Bring all of those together and it is him. Wu Daozi's painting itself has long since vanished, and what comes down to us are copies and stone engravings.

His image goes up at two points in the year: the Dragon Boat Festival and the end of the year. At midsummer because the fifth month was reckoned an unlucky one; at the year's end because it closes the year out. Both are hinges in the calendar, and the aim is to keep unclean things outside the door. That use is far older than any money-drawing purpose and steadier, and the Zhong Kui of New Year prints, door gods and opera all follows it. In prints he wears a red robe, on stage a black suit of armour — the colours shift with the occasion, while the red, black and white of the painted face stay fixed.

Here his head is set on the bezel; the sizes differ in the dimensions of that bezel, not in the design. Relief depth on a ring face is limited because the metal is thin and cutting too deep goes through, so the beard and the hat wings are pressed shallow: from a distance it is a mass of shadow, close up the features separate. Every small piece makes that trade. On a narrower bezel only the head will fit and the shoulders have to go, otherwise the features crowd into a knot.

The open design means the band can be bent to fit most fingers. Open silver rings share a fault: the joint loosens after repeated opening and they start slipping off. Adjust in small increments rather than working it back and forth, and close it by pressing both sides in slowly; pushing only one side skews the circle, and a skewed circle is hard to true up again. Once it fits, stop trying it on repeatedly — silver fatigues one bend at a time.

Zhong Kui is a fierce face. Some people find that reassuring on the hand, others don't want it there, and that is a matter of feeling with no right answer. The large bezel is wide, and on short fingers it makes them look shorter; the small one is easier to wear. If it is a gift, think first about whether the recipient likes this kind of subject rather than choosing to your own taste — that matters more than the size. Clean along the direction of the beard with a silver cloth; wiping across pushes the darkness out of the recesses to the edges.