White Copper Five Jambhalas Script Open Ring

The notion of the Five Directional Wealth Deities settled fairly late. The usual arrangement follows the Investiture of the Gods: Zhao Gongming in the centre, Xiao Sheng to the east, Cao Bao to the west, Chen Jiugong to the south, Yao Shaosi to the north. One to each quarter, and only the five together make up the five directions; inviting one alone is not the same thing. The arrangement shows most clearly in New Year prints, where the central figure is always Zhao Gongming, riding a tiger and holding a whip. Prints of the five usually add a treasure basin below them.

The ring is open, the face is broad, and the five names run around it in order. The characters are small and need a close look. On a white copper ground the cuts are filled with a dark pigment: from a distance it reads as a grey band, and only up close do the characters resolve. This treatment is common on copper work. It keeps fine strokes from blurring into one another, and it leaves a little colour in the cuts after wear. Five names pressed onto a single arc means the middle one is clearest, while the two at the ends lean with the curve. White copper is greyish to begin with, so the black fill gives no strong contrast; it shows under direct light.

The standard version comes in one size, and the advantage is that there is nothing to choose. The open structure tolerates a range of fingers; a little pressure spreads it. A broad face covers more skin, which in summer can feel close. That is unavoidable with a wide band, and sweat gathers between the fingers, so wipe it now and then. The shank is about as wide as the face, so the ring does not turn thick on one side and thin on the other. On a slender finger a broad face balances the hand visually.

In folk practice the five belong among the orthodox deities, and their image turns up widely: New Year prints, altar vessels, things carried on the person. People in business like to wear one, for the good word it puts in the mouth. In the end it is a token. Trade does not rise or fall by it, so do not credit the ring for the accounts either way, and do not let it stand in for work that needs doing. In the old way of making offerings to wealth deities, all five were honoured together; singling one out is a later simplification.

White copper shifts colour with sweat. Worn long on a finger, the outside of the face brightens while the inside darkens, and the difference reads as a ring that has been worn, which some people want. Rub it down regularly if you want an even tone; leave it alone if you want the aged look. The dark in the cuts is a fill, so keep hard brushes and alcohol away from it, since either will lift the pigment out. If a little comes away there is no need to touch it up. Bare copper showing through reads as age, and an uneven repair draws the eye more than the loss did.