S925 Silver Jadeite Ruyi Dangle Charm

The ruyi did not always look as it does now. It began as a back scratcher, a hand on a stem for the places you cannot reach, and that is where the name comes from — as you wish, to your liking. It entered Buddhist use as a note-keeper held during sermons, and only later became the auspicious object we know, a cloud head on a long shaft. The material changed along the way, from bamboo and wood to bronze and jade, while the shape drifted steadily toward a cloud.

This one takes the head of the ruyi and makes it a didiu — the trade word for a small drop hung on a strand or a chain, something with enough play to swing. The curve of the cloud head is the whole skeleton: a scroll on either side and a rounded boss at the centre, as if a bead were set into it. The base closes to a point, so on a chain it finds its own centre of gravity and does not hang crooked. The two scrolls are not symmetrical; the left is tighter, the right looser. That is hand finishing. Machine work is dead symmetrical.

The jadeite is on the fine side of the grain scale with middling transparency — light goes about halfway in. Material like this is best in small pieces; worked large it looks thin. The colour is a pale green ground with a little floating colour, and the float sits on the left scroll of the cloud head, right inside the curve. The carving follows the colour and leaves the deeper tone to the shadow of the scroll edge, which gives the piece its layering.

A small drop like this has several uses. On a plain chain, alone, it is simple; under the guru bead of a mala it acts as a counterweight and settles the whole strand; some people hang it on ear threads, one on each side, deliberately unmatched. The hole is at the top and not large, right for a fine thread — a thick one will jam against the sides and the drop stops swinging. If you use it on ear threads, match the two in weight; one heavy and one light will ache by the end of the day.

Small jadeite pieces get lost more than they get broken. Put it back in its box when you take it off, and never leave it on a washbasin; I have heard more than one story about the drain. If the silver part has a press clasp, pinch it shut from time to time, because a loose clasp opens by itself. The piece is small, so watch for knitwear fibres working into the seams of the cloud head; do not pull them, pick them out with a needle. The inside of the hole is polished, so the thread runs smoothly and does not fray.