White Copper Zhenwu Emperor Relief Pendant

Hair loose, feet bare, one hand resting on a sword, a turtle and a snake beneath his feet: that set of attributes belongs to Zhenwu, the Perfected Warrior. Legend has him cultivating on Wudang Mountain, and on the day his work was complete his body ascended before he had time to tie his hair. The iconography fixed itself there and barely changed for centuries after the Song, so those few signs are enough to identify him and not mistake him for another emperor-deity. The sword rests across the knee with the tip on the ground, and that pose is what holds the whole figure’s weight down.

Relief in white copper has to build its levels inside a limited thickness. The figure is the subject and stands highest; the turtle and snake lie under him, a step lower; the cloud pattern behind is lower again. The steps between them are made by sloped walls, and a wall cut too steep breaks the light, so the figure looks pasted on rather than grown out of the metal. The back of the plaque still needs thickness: raise the figure and the back thins, and a thin back digs into the chest — that is the thing to avoid. Nothing kills relief like flatness; shave the face of the plaque level and the figure becomes a sheet of paper that no lighting will lift.

The sword is the bone of this kind of image. The blade has to be straight, the guard wide, and whether the tip points up or down varies from workshop to workshop. The old saying is that a weapon charm should not point its edge at the body, so the blade is worn angled outward. Those who hold with it do so; those who do not wear it whichever way sits comfortably. The genuinely hard part is the two horizontal lines of the guard, which blur in casting more readily than anything else and have to be cut back in one at a time. The tip should finish below the chin, which keeps the figure’s weight settled and the face clear.

A Chopin chain is the other option. Flat links, fitted one into the next, it lies against the neck without much twisting, steadier than a round-link chain and heavy enough to hold a plaque with some weight to it. The pendant-only version lets you choose your own cord and change it when you like; the risk is that a poor match leaves the piece top-heavy. On colour, dark brown and black are the safest, while a red cord pushes white copper colder and makes skin look paler. A lobster clasp outlasts a spring clasp, whose tongue bends out of line and then holds nothing.

In folk belief Zhenwu is the god of the north, with water in his charge, and counted a martial deity as well. His cult peaked in the Ming, which is when the incense at Wudang took off. For someone in business the theme is holding the gate; for an elder it is health. Say seven-tenths of it and leave the rest for the other person to think. If someone asks whether it works, say it is a token to keep in mind, and a token outlasts a promise. The processions that carry his image up the Wudang pilgrim road wear exactly this set of attributes; see it once and you remember it.