Metal Taotie Totem Lighter

A lighter is one of the few things you touch every single day. It is not like a pendant, which simply hangs there. It gets pulled out, pressed, and dropped back in a pocket. So the feel of the shell matters more than the pattern on it: no sharp corners, no slick surface, and nothing that freezes your hand when you take it out in winter. A metal shell passes on all three counts. It has another advantage too, which is that it takes a knock. A plastic shell cracks after two drops; a metal one only gains a dent.

The taotie pattern was set into the belly of Shang and Zhou bronzes and was the most widely used beast face of its time. Two eyes stand out, a ridge of nose runs between them, horns spread to either side, and there is no lower jaw. The Lüshi Chunqiu says the Zhou ding bears the taotie, a head with no body, and that is exactly this. It sat on the belly of ding and gui vessels as the face of a ritual object, not as an auspicious picture. The name taotie was given by scholars of the Song. On the bronzes themselves it was only ever called the beast-face pattern; the Song matched it against the Lüshi Chunqiu and the name stuck from then on.

On this shell the beast face wraps the whole body around: the eyes raised, the lines sunk, and a finger run over it feels the levels. The raised areas are polished and the sunken ones left dark, which is how old bronzes were finished. The metal is left in its own color with no plating, so wear cannot take the color off, only darken it by degrees. The two eyes are the highest points on the piece. The maker raises the eyes first and then pushes the lines out to either side, because one eye off true and the whole face comes apart.

In a pocket, do not let it mix with keys and coins. Hard against hard knocks out small pits, and the eyes of the beast take the damage first. When you take it out to light up, the palm covers most of the pattern; there is nothing to be done about that, and you get used to it. On a desk, set it bottom down on a sheet of paper. Do not lay it on its side, where it rolls, and the metal base grinds the desk surface, damaging both. A breast pocket is better than a trouser pocket: it does not dig in when you sit, and it is less likely to meet your keys.

Wipe a dirty shell with a dry cloth and do not rinse it. Dust in the seams comes out with a soft brush, or with a toothpick wrapped in a bit of cloth. Metal does not fear age; it fears knocks, and a pit cannot be repaired. The lid loosens with long use, as every flip-top does, and when it loosens do not go at it with pliers. Wipe along the direction of the pattern, because wiping across it drags the dark out of the recesses and onto the bright face.