S925 Silver Jadeite Ruyi Peace Lock

The lock shape comes from the longevity lock. In the old days, when a child was born the family had a silver lock made and hung at its neck, called a hundred-family lock, with long life, wealth and honour cut into the face. The meaning was to lock the child in place, so that illness could not carry it off. The lock was worn until the age of twelve, and in some places until adulthood, taken off on the day of the coming-of-age rite and put away at the bottom of a chest. Both faces can be worn, one inscribed and one plain, so that turning it over gives a different object. The hundred families of the name are literal: a little silver collected door to door, melted down into one lock.

For an adult to wear a lock, the form has to change. The original face is wide and the pattern fills it, and shrunk down nothing can be read. Here the body is narrowed to the outline of a ruyi head, with jadeite set into the middle. The green is uneven, dark in places and pale in others, which is how the stone comes out of the ground rather than what was left after sorting. The jadeite is cut as a cabochon, and the dome has to be even, since a little off and the stone looks thin. The base of the cabochon has to be flat so that it sits on the silver; a domed base will rock.

The ruyi head is a cloud head: wide at one end, narrow at the other, and drawn in at the waist, and the waist is where it breaks. Thickness is added there, invisible from the front and showing as a slight swell in raking light. Not too much, or the piece turns clumsy. The lower edge is cut on a curve so that it follows the chest and does not press on bone. An adult's collarbone sits lower, so the body of the lock is kept short, and it drops into the hollow above the collarbone without pushing against a collar.

Jadeite ruyi white gold is the name of this version, and white gold here refers to the tone of the silver rather than to another metal. A silver ground that runs white sets off the green, and the green reads deep; set against red or yellow, the green would float. This is colour, not value; when you choose, put the stone on the back of your hand to compare, which is more reliable than a screen. The silver ground is lightly antiqued to hold down the glare of the white, so that the green can settle. The white gold tone is a little warmer than pure white, and does not feel cold on skin with yellow in it.

Jadeite is afraid of knocks. Set in its silver mount, it has a rim to protect it, but the dome of the stone is still exposed, and a knock against the corner of a table will chip it just the same, so take it off when you are doing housework. The silver will tarnish and the jade will not, so clean them separately. Do not take a silver polishing cloth to the stone, because the polishing powder in the cloth works its way into the fine cracks of the jade and cannot be washed out. The hook sits at the top of the lock and the hole is small; pass the cord through and tie a single knot.