White Copper Zhenwu Emperor Round Relief Pendant

Zhenwu is the god of the north, originally named Xuanwu and renamed in the Song to avoid a naming taboo. His image has a fixed form: hair worn loose, bare feet, a black robe, one hand resting on a sword, a turtle and a snake underfoot. Turtle and snake are Xuanwu's original form. Among the four symbols, the Azure Dragon is east, the White Tiger west, the Vermilion Bird south and Xuanwu north, and the northern mansions take the shape of a turtle and snake coiled together. Xuanwu governs water, and he governs the north; the four each hold one direction, and he stands at the last of them.

The Ming imperial house venerated Zhenwu. He is the principal deity of Wudang Mountain, and the main halls of its temples all enshrine him. Sculptures sit in two ways: upright, or in the demon-subduing posture with one foot thrust out. Relief plaques mostly take the upright pose, whose symmetry holds steadiest inside a round composition. The temples of Wudang are arranged along the lie of the mountain, from the foot all the way to the Golden Summit, halls of Zhenwu the whole way, and the Ming construction was the largest of them.

A round plaque, with relief on one face. Relief is not the same as flat engraving: it has to rise, high and low separated into layers, so that light raking across it gives the face its modeling. Brows, eyes, beard and hair are chased in, one line pressed after another. Whether the work is good shows under the finger, because good relief feels like a slope and bad relief feels like a staircase. The ground has to be flat. An uneven ground throws a mess of shadows under light, and no pattern survives that, however good it is.

A round plaque lies against the chest, so the rim has to be smooth. This one's edge is drawn thin and does not dig in when you turn it over. On a chain it settles at the middle of the breastbone, exactly where it shows when a shirt is open at the collar. The black-robed figure is a heavy image: against dark clothing it disappears, against light it contrasts hard. Choose a somewhat heavier chain, since a round plaque has weight, and a fine chain drags forward until it pulls the neckline out of shape. Face outward, and do not let anyone see the flat plate of the back through your collar.

Relief work has many recesses, and dust settles easily in beard, hair and robe folds. Dry-brush it with a soft brush, trimmed shorter so that it has some force to it; long bristles just bend. Do not use an ultrasonic cleaner: the vibration is too strong, the dirt stays in the seams and the surface loses its sheen first. Copper left sitting raises a thin green film, which is oxidation rather than damage, and it comes back after you wipe it off. Wipe with a soft cloth and keep ammonia cleaners away, or the copper will mottle.