S925 Silver Nine-tailed Fox Open Ring

The nine-tailed fox appears several times in the Classic of Mountains and Seas — the mountain of Qingqiu, the land of Qingqiu, and a passage in the Classic of the Regions Beyond the Eastern Sea — each describing a creature shaped like a fox with nine tails. In that period it was no demon but an omen of good government, ranked with the phoenix and the qilin, its appearance meaning peace in the realm. That reading was still standard in the Han, and the nine-tailed fox on Han relief stones is a proper auspicious beast. The southern classic also says it eats people; in early texts the auspicious and the dangerous were allowed to coexist.

Later its position shifted. Tales of seductive foxes begin in Six Dynasties collections of the strange, grow more lurid after the Tang, and by the time of Daji in Investiture of the Gods the nine-tailed fox wears an entirely different face. The same image turned over several times in two thousand years, each turn tied to the taste of its moment and having little to do with foxes. In Tang fox stories the animal usually has to cultivate itself and study, and stays at one remove from the human world — a distance later rubbed away.

This ring takes the early form: nine tails spread behind and gathered into a fan, the body leaning forward, the forepaws together. The bezel runs horizontally, wider than it is tall, so on the hand it reads as a band across the finger. The tails are separated by line engraving, and the grooves between nine of them are shallow — polishing blurs them easily, so when choosing, check whether the tips stay distinct. The tails fan from the centre outward, the outer two shortest, which is what keeps the outline contained.

The band is open and adjustable. Silver is ductile, so adjust gently, and one correct adjustment is less trouble than repeated tries. The tail tips are the finest part and will bend if they catch on a jumper; ease them back with the back of a fingernail, not pliers, whose jaws are toothed and leave a bite that polishing won't hide. If the gap at the opening is left too narrow, all the stress of bending gathers at a single point and it cracks.

The subject skews young, and it suits someone in her twenties better than an older relative. Plenty of people dislike the word fox, so ask before buying and spare you both an awkward moment. Worn on its own it is enough; stacking with a thin band also works, but keep the open side inwards or the gap shows. Silver dulls with wear, and the relief looks better dull, so there is no rush to polish it. A small silver cloth in the box is enough — skip the liquid dips, as pieces with fine points like this shouldn't be soaked.