S925 Silver Awakening Lion Fu Character Pendant

The awakening lion is the southern lion. Northern lion dance is more literal, a long-haired body held up by two people. The southern lion head is another line: high brow, single horn, big eyes, a small mirror at the center of the forehead, a jaw that opens and closes, eyelids that blink. The martial arts halls around Foshan and Guangzhou used to keep a lion. The frame of a lion head is bamboo splint, pasted with paper, painted, and a good head takes a great deal of work. The silver version takes the shape of that head and presses the proportions of the craft into a piece of metal.

The lion head carries rules. The single horn thrusts forward, taken from the unicorn idea and made for butting. The mirror at the brow was said in the old days to reflect spirits. The row of white hair above the brow is called the longevity brow. The tongue in the mouth is loose and moves when the greens are snatched. Red lions are common; red is festive and carries the layer of fortune at the head. Southern lions divide into civil and martial, the civil one about expression, the martial one about movement. The "awakening" in the name means waking up; when spirits are low, you dance one. The lower lip carries an arc called the laughing mouth. The wider the laugh, the more good fortune comes in, or so the trade says.

This piece takes the lion head frontally. The fu character sits below the brow, between the eyes, taking little space. The strokes are written with rounded turns, horizontals thin and verticals thick, each ending with a small return. Hung upside down, fu means fortune has arrived; carved upright it means fortune is here, and this one is upright. On silver the strokes have to be reined in. Horizontals too thin will break, verticals too thick will blur, so all four sides keep a little margin.

The eyes are the difficulty in a silver lion head. The eyeballs have to bulge, the sockets to go deep, and the distance between the eyes has to be enough; too narrow and it becomes a monkey. The horn sits center and slightly back, so from the front only a stub shows and the whole of it appears in profile. Three curls are cut on each cheek, turning outward, symmetrical; one crooked curl and the face cannot laugh. The mirror's position at the brow cannot shift. Off a little and the whole face is crooked.

Worn as a pendant, the lion head faces out and the fu faces out. A bag or a car both work; in a car, keep the cord short or it swings when you brake. With long use the hollows of the head darken and the fu strokes become clearer, and there is no hurry to polish it white again. The horn is the first thing to bend. Brushed against a door frame while hanging on a bag, it goes crooked, and it should be eased back from the root. Silver lion heads are better small than large; large, they go clumsy and weigh on a collar.