White Copper Qiankun Circle Auspicious Cloud Necklace

The Qiankun circle is Nezha's weapon in Investiture of the Gods, given to him by Taiyi Zhenren of Jinguang Cave on Qianyuan Mountain. It grows and shrinks, and thrown, it comes back. That provenance gives it a little more story than a plain ring has. In the novel it is a weapon; as jewellery, all that remains is a circle. Provenance is provenance: what you wear is the shape, and what you recognise is the circle. It looks right only with the face turned forward, and tilted it loses its form.

Qiankun means heaven and earth, and also yin and yang. The circle is closed, with no beginning and no end, so in an ornament the shape itself carries the sense of completeness. A ring sits against the neck and visually cuts it, which makes the relation between diameter and neck size more important than the pattern. Measure around the neck below the Adam's apple, and take a diameter two fingers smaller than that, so it doesn't rotate; too large and it slides into the hollow of the shoulder. A short neck wants a slender ring, since a thick one presses.

This piece has a cloud pattern pressed into the body. The cloud motif is one of the oldest decorations in China, with cloud-and-thunder patterns on Shang and Zhou bronzes, and the later ruyi cloud head developed out of it. The body is slender, so the clouds can only be shallow relief; cut deeper and the pattern breaks. The curl of each cloud head has to run the same way, because one turned left and one turned right looks scattered. The square, angular cloud-and-thunder and the round ruyi cloud are two separate languages, and this piece uses the second. Cloud heads should be even in size; one large and one small spoils it.

The length of the necklace decides how it is worn. At the collarbone it sits close, and the ring lies across the hollow of the neck; at the chest it hangs, with the face forward. White copper is not light and the ring is a single piece, so the chain has to carry it and should not be too fine. A large ring on a small diameter jams above the collarbone and looks wrong. In summer, over a thin collar, the ring touches skin; in winter, over a sweater, it stands away.

Copper oxidises, and the inner face against the skin darkens fastest. To keep it bright, use a silver-polishing cloth. Don't use steel wool or toothpaste, because the abrasive lodges in the grooves of the cloud pattern and makes it hazier the more you rub. In summer, wipe it dry at night and it will leave fewer marks. Store it flat rather than hanging, since over time it draws into an oval, and a ring bent from a single piece will not go back to round. Don't store it together with silver chains.