White Copper Four Symbols Rectangular Pendant

The four symbols are the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird and the Black Tortoise, matched to east, west, south and north, and to the four seasons as well. The scheme exists from the late Warring States period; Han tile ends and bronze mirrors arrange the four neatly, each holding a corner. A blank patch in the middle is normal in the old compositions, since emptiness is what lets them breathe. Feng shui later used the four for orientation, the business of dragon on the left and tiger on the right, which is not the same thing as the motif. The Han order was fixed, and getting it wrong meant you had not understood it.

Fitting four beasts onto a rectangle is harder than onto a round plaque. There are two usual solutions: two registers with two beasts each, or a ring around the edge with a motif in the middle. A tall picture suits dragon and tiger above and below, with bird and tortoise drawn in at the sides, their bodies bending along the border. If it will not fit, cut one. Three is better than a heap of overlapping bodies. The facing has to be decided and kept consistent: gathering toward the centre, or guarding outward.

Relief on cupronickel does not need height. Polished highlights and shadow in the hollows carry the layers, and the piece reads as one thing from a metre away. Raise the carving and the back thins, and a thin back digs at the collarbone. The yellow version has a warm ground, so the shadows of the beasts look softer; the white is cold and the lines cut cleaner. Taste decides. Aged yellow resembles an old bronze mirror, while white stays silvery. Same mould, same weight, and all the difference sits on the surface.

A long plaque carries its weight low, so don’t run the chain long. Set it above the chest and the face lies against cloth and rarely turns over. With a turtleneck it presses a rectangular mark, which cannot be helped. A thin neck wants a shorter chain so the plaque lies across instead of down. Watch the small hole at the top: when copper wears thin, it starts at the mouth of that hole. If you walk a lot, choose a lighter one; a heavy square swings and strikes the chest.

In feng shui the four also mark direction, and some people buy to supply whichever quarter their reading says is lacking. The shop does not do that calculation, and speaks only to where the motif comes from. If you take it seriously, work out first which system you actually follow, and don’t run the two together. This is a patterned piece, not a compass and not a consecrated object. As a gift, "four beasts, four directions" sounds complete without dragging efficacy into it. Asked where it comes from, the shop says plainly that it is made after traditional patterns.