White Copper Zhong Kui Copper Inlay Three-hole Bead Set

Zhong Kui is a figure hung at the end of the year and at the Dragon Boat Festival. Legend has him failing the military examination, dashing his head against the palace steps, and later catching a small ghost in Emperor Ming’s dream; a painter drew him as he appeared there, and the look fixed from that point. The title Saint Lord Who Confers Blessings and Guards the House is folk-given. In the pictures the black face, the curling beard, the battered hat and the hand resting on a sword are all required. Literati painters gave him a trace of the scholar, since pure ferocity and he becomes a ghost himself.

On Zhong Kui, copper inlay usually separates face from robe. The face stays the natural colour, the robe takes inlay, one bright and one dark, and the figure stands up. The groove follows the robe lines; run it across and it cuts the flow of the form. Too deep and the inlay won’t fill it, too shallow and it won’t hold, all by feel. Grinding is done over a wooden backing, since sandpaper straight on the piece will scratch the face. Inlay doesn’t mind age; the older it looks, the more it resembles an antique.

The set is matched, which saves hunting for loose pieces of the same colour and finish. Check the page for the number and sizes included, and don’t copy someone else’s strand. Colour varies little within a batch, but reordering later often doesn’t match. Most pieces in a set come from one mould, so the patterns connect, which loose assembly cannot do. Count what you need before buying: too many is waste and too few is hard to top up. Keep the box, because loose storage invites knocks, and hat wings and cuffs are the first to suffer.

The guru bead goes at the closure, and the spacers and counters are distributed by strand length. Zhong Kui’s face points outward, not against the neck, since the raised metal abrades skin. String it fairly tight so that pieces don’t fight each other, which also keeps the noise down. One Zhong Kui in a long strand is enough; more and they compete. In a short strand, one at the centre looks right. Elastic or waxed cord depends on the beads, and wood sits better on waxed cord. The closing knot hides inside the guru bead, so no knot shows.

Worn long, copper darkens in the seams, and that is sweat and grime rather than loss of colour. Dry-brush with a soft brush and don’t soak it, because water spreads the dirt in the seams instead. An aged surface must not see a silver cloth, which will spoil it at once. Zhong Kui’s beard is cut fine, so brush along the hairs. Store it in its own bag, since knocked against other copper the hat wings go first. Verdigris washes out of clothing, but skip the bleach, which yellows it further. Wipe it after a summer day, because sweat left overnight works into the metal.