White Copper Zhong Kui Antique Open Ring

Zhong Kui on a ring has a skewed face. The face of the ring is an arc, and the design has to follow it: head-on it reads as a face, from the side it stretches. The mould is drawn flat first and then wrapped onto the curve, and a poor wrap leaves the eyes and brows adrift. This step eats experience. Give it to a beginner and eight rings in ten come out with the eyes off one line. In profile only one hat wing shows; the other is hidden behind the face, and the hidden side has to be closed off cleanly.

This piece takes Zhong Kui in profile, brow ridge pressed low, curling beard swept to one side. Antiquing drives the dark into the strands of the beard and leaves the face bright, so from a distance a face emerges out of a mass of black — more character than a frontal image. The advantage of profile is that the symmetry of two eyes need not be solved; the disadvantage is the nose, which is the hardest part: a hair too high and it is sharp, a hair too low and it is flat. A narrow border is pressed round the edge of the face so the head does not spill onto the side of the band, where it would distort.

The band is open and adjustable. To adjust it, hold the two ends and spread them; do not squeeze the face, which is thin and will bend. White copper has little spring, so it stays where you put it and does not creep back. Overdo it and there is trouble the other way: it will not close, it spins on the finger, and it has to go back for hammering. Pad it with cloth when you bend it — the surface of white copper is soft, and pliers leave a mark at a pinch.

Anyone who works in a ring should note: the hat wings and the tips of the beard stand proud and will catch on things you grip. Writing and carrying a bag are fine; take it off for rough work. Run a finger round the inside and smooth any burr. If the inside is polished bright it slips when you sweat, the ring turns, the face ends up inward, and you keep having to set it right. Take it off to wash your hands and put it on the counter, not on a slope: a round thing rolls, and one drop to the floor leaves a dent. Worn long enough, the inside polishes itself to a bright band. That ring of shine is normal. Leave it; it will not wipe away.

The subject carries a threat in it, and on the hand it is more private than at the chest. Some wear it for reassurance, some simply like the drawing; both are ordinary. Promise nothing. Saying plainly that this is a figure out of folk custom is enough. The antiqued dark fades with wear, especially at the highest point of the face, and faded it looks better rather than worse. Anyone who wants the whole face should take the pendant version instead; a ring was always about the gist of the thing.