White Copper Tibetan Nine Palace Bagua Three-hole Bead

In Tibet the nine-grid bagua plaque is usually hung on a door. The form is a tortoise back: a nine-square grid at the center, a ring of bagua outside it, and a ring of the twelve zodiac animals outside that. Legend says the design came in with Princess Wencheng when she traveled to Tibet, Han numerics and Tibetan belief mixing into the shape it has today. Hung on a door, it is seen going out and coming in. Some people write their birth date on the back. The edge of the tortoise back is worked as a string of beads, rounded so it does not scratch the hand.

The nine grid is a square of the numbers one to nine, and every row, column and diagonal adds to fifteen. In the Yi it is the Luoshu; in the numerological arts it is the nine palaces. The bagua ring outside governs the eight directions, and the zodiac ring outside that governs the twelve years. Three layers nested, and between them they hold both time and direction. The numerals are left out and the grid lines remain. The lines are the foundation, and whether or not you read the characters, the figure makes sense.

Made into a three-hole bead, the plaque shrinks to the size of a bead and the three bores meet beneath the tortoise back. The cells of the grid are too small for anything but the lines, so the numerals are dropped; the bagua figures are still recognizable, since the groups of three lines keep their shape. The zodiac ring is outermost and cut shallowest, and it wears flat first. At this size the danger is blurring, so a bright edge is left between the layers to keep them apart. Whether the zodiac belongs on the front or the back varies by district; on this piece it is on the front.

Two options: the bead on its own, and the bead in a floating display box. The box is rigid, with the insert cut to the shape so the piece hangs in the middle without touching a wall on any side, and it is presentable as a gift. The bead itself is the same either way; the difference is the packing. For your own use the box is unnecessary. For a gift it is worth considering, though it takes up space. Holding the piece clear of the surface is all the box does.

Dust collects at the angles where the bores meet, and a soft brush turned twice inside will lift it. Copper dulls, and once it does the grid lines of the nine palaces come out more clearly. Do not clean it in an ultrasonic bath; Long shaking slackens solder joints, and although this piece is cast in one, its thin places would not take it either. The edge of the tortoise back is round and does not press into the skin. The body is thick, so on a thin cord it will hang heavy; choose a thicker cord. Of the three bores, one takes the main line and two take the tassel.