White Copper Heavenly Master Zhong Kui Vintage Pendant

The two characters tianshi in the name need sorting out first. In Daoism the title belongs to the Zhang Heavenly Masters of Longhu Mountain, an inherited office handed down from the late Han. Zhong Kui is honoured in folk religion as Judge and as the Holy Lord Who Guards the House, and tianshi on a New Year print is a folk usage. The two should not be run together. Get that clear and the piece can be sold openly. Inscriptions on New Year prints vary widely, Judge, Holy Lord Who Guards the House, Heavenly Master, and the aim is a name that rings out.

Zhong Kui's story has been told above: the jinshi of Zhongnan, ugly, failed, dead against the steps, who after death took charge of catching ghosts. A Tang note on a painting describes him as leopard-headed with round eyes, an iron face and a bristling beard. Those words became the groundwork for every Zhong Kui image since, and no painter escapes them; only the robe lines, the gesture and the attendant ghosts differ. He is usually paired with ghost attendants, blue-faced and fanged, trampled underfoot, a composition carried from old drawings to the present day.

The word vintage, on this piece, means artificial ageing. The copper face is toned down, the raised parts left a little bright, the recesses blackened, so it looks like an old piece that has sat in a drawer for decades. Whether the ageing is well done shows in the transitions. A bright patch beside a black one with a hard border means the solution was not wiped evenly, and it will mottle worse with wear. An aged piece should not be scrubbed hard with a cloth every day; too much and the bright surface comes back and the vintage idea is gone.

The options are the pendant alone or with a necklace. The pendant is cheaper and suits anyone who has a chain; the necklace costs a little more and saves you matching one, with the colour already right. A Zhong Kui pendant is on the heavy side, and a chain that is too fine will cut the neck and break easily, so allow for that when choosing, and do not pick a thin chain that snaps at a pull for the sake of looks. If the hole is small, two passes of cord fill it and a thicker cord will jam; asking about the hole size before buying saves trouble.

As a gift, Zhong Kui is harder than the wealth god. Elders and friends who have just moved are both fine; talk about guarding the house and about where the New Year print comes from, not about efficacy. If the recipient does not hold with any of it, treat the piece as a carved figure, which stands up on craft alone, since white copper relief bears being turned over in the hand again and again. A line about the source of the subject, enclosed with the gift, is remembered longer than an extra chain.