S925 Silver Iridescent Five Jambhalas Gourd Pendant

The iridescence is a surface treatment, not a layer of coloured plating. Silver is oxidised or crystallised under controlled conditions so that a very thin film forms on the surface, and light reflecting at different angles comes off in different colours — turn it and the blue shifts to purple. The film is measured in microns, which is why it is delicate. The more even the film, the purer the colour; a badly done piece goes patchy, like oil floating on water.

Friction wears it away, and what shows underneath is plain silver; it doesn't come back. Iridescent pieces therefore suit places that don't get rubbed, or sparing wear. The face fingers reach for loses its colour first — the middle of the gourd's belly, for instance, turns silver before anything else, and that is the common fate of every piece finished this way. Which is why the instructions for them usually say no polishing, no soaking, no ultrasonic; all three are true.

The subject is still the five directions' wealth gods with the gourd, the same as the plain silver version; only the finish differs. A curved gourd takes iridescence particularly well, because the angle changes continuously across the dome and the colour moves in a gradient rather than in patches. On a flat piece the whole surface flips colour at once, which looks stiff. Where the recesses of the gourd have been sandblasted, the iridescence there reads darker, which is a matter of surface roughness. On a curved surface the colour follows the form, which is why the gourd suits it so well.

The five are Zhao Gongming at the centre and four envoys, one for each direction, while the gourd carries the pun on fortune and rank. No need to go over that again; the point here is the finishing. The thinner the waist of the gourd, the more likely the colour breaks into two halves there, so choose one with a slightly heavier waist: the transition stays continuous and it stands up to daily rubbing. A thicker waist also resists knocks — on a thin-waisted piece one knock leaves a dent, and there is no colour inside a dent.

Don't use a silver cloth on it; that alone will spoil the finish. If it gets dirty, rinse in clean water and press dry with a soft cloth rather than rubbing. Store it in its own bag, away from other metal. Colour varies within a single batch, which is the randomness of the process and not a flaw: pick whichever cast you prefer, bluer or more purple. If you have hand cream on, wipe it off before putting the pendant on — grease dulls the film faster than friction does.