White Copper Taiji Bagua Hammered Tag Necklace

Each of the eight trigrams is three lines, and a line is either broken or unbroken — broken is yin, unbroken is yang. Three lines give eight combinations: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui. The names are awkward, but the images attached to them are easy: heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, marsh. Say them twice and they run. The bagua also divides into Earlier and Later Heaven, Qian south and Kun north in one arrangement against Li south and Kan north in the other, and which one a given diagram follows is disputed.

This plaque puts the taiji at the centre and rings the trigrams around it at equal intervals. The ground is hammered all over and the trigram lines are left bright: one coarse, one fine, one dark, one light, so the positions read at a glance. The hammering is struck by hand and the pits are never identical in depth; machine-pressed texture is regular and, for that reason, dead. A fingertip feels the difference before you can explain it. The hammering travels from the edge inward and eases off at the trigram lines, or it would collapse them.

The necklace arrives with its chain and is ready to wear. The chain is fine, clips to a small ring, and the pendant finds its own centre of gravity with the face outward. The plaque is not thick and disappears under a shirt. Some buyers find the chain too fine and want a heavier one; the ring opening is generous enough for ordinary clasps, but don't pry it wide. The chain sits at the collarbone, and vanishes under a turtleneck.

The two eyes of the taiji are cut shallow, only a hair below the surrounding surface, so a dot appears only when light rakes across it. Shallow relief has one clear advantage: it doesn't trap dirt. Cut them deep and the eyes collect dust, and you end up picking at them with a needle until they scratch. The eight trigram lines are rounded at the ends with no sharp corners, so nothing pricks the skin when the pendant shifts against you. The edge of the plaque is rounded too, and doesn't scrape clothing when the pendant turns.

A peened surface resists scratches better than a polished one; small knocks disappear into the texture, which is what makes it easier to live with than a bright finish. Clean with warm water and a little neutral detergent, work a soft brush in one direction, rinse and dry. Skip the ultrasonic cleaner — over time it frays the rims of the shallow pits and leaves a white line along the bright areas. The matte surface grabs loose fibres; a day against a wool sweater leaves fuzz in the texture, and a strip of tape lifts it off — better than picking at it with a fingernail.