S925 Silver Vajra Bell Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Pendant

In the temple the bell is held in the left hand while the right still holds the vajra; the two are a set. The bell stands for wisdom and the vajra for method, one empty and one full, and only together are they complete. The form of the bell is fixed: mouth open, waist drawn in, half a vajra or a Buddha head on the handle, a band of vajra pattern around the lip and lotus petals on the body. Every one of those elements can be checked against thangkas and murals, and change one and it stops looking right. The lip carries a thin rim, cast in the real object, which at jewellery scale survives only as a shallow step.

Made into a pendant, the tongue is left out. A real bell rings because of the tongue hanging inside it. The jewellery version is solid and makes no sound, and that is worth saying plainly so that whoever receives it does not think something is broken. A solid bell is heavier in the hand than a hollow one, and it has weight on the chest, which is also why it does not feel like a toy. The vajra band around the lip, shrunk to the size of a fingernail, is no more than a ring of undulation that appears only when light comes in at an angle; straight on it reads as a dark edge.

Meisong is the trade's name for turquoise with a relatively high blue. Turquoise carries iron lines, black veins like a spiderweb. Some people choose only stones without lines, wanting them clean; others prefer the veined ones and say that is what stone actually looks like, with bone, as the trade puts it. The stone here is set into the body of the bell, and its colour presses down the white of the silver. Cold against warm, and the outline of the bell comes forward. Turquoise runs from pale to deep, and against silver the pale looks cleaner while the deep looks heavier.

Use a dark cord. Ink black and dark brown are both steady, and navy suits it as well; the bell is a ritual subject, and a loud colour makes it frivolous. The piece is neither masculine nor feminine, and it is not large. It hangs at the chest and taps lightly against cloth as you walk, without a sound. Tie the knot above the lip so that the rim does not rub straight against the skin. That ring is thin, and with long wear it will begin to curl.

The lip is the most fragile part. Support the body when you put the piece away and do not pinch the rim. Wipe along the body with a soft cloth when the silver dims, and leave the hollows alone. Turquoise dislikes both sweat and oil, so after a summer day press it with a dry cloth rather than soaking it, since soaking dulls the colour. If the body and the hanging loop work loose, have a jeweller tighten the joint; do not bend it yourself. Use cotton cord. Nylon is slippery and the knot works free.