White Copper Nine-Syllable Mantra Rectangular Enamel Pendant

A rectangular plaque with a raised rim all round, enamel filled inside, the characters pressed onto the glaze and laid out on a grid. A rectangle reads more formal than a round plaque, and the corners are rounded so they do not dig into the chest. The enamel colour is fired in, not painted on. From the side you can see that the glaze has a little thickness, and where it was laid unevenly the surface rises and falls. The thin ridge on the frame is the boundary the enamel was filled to, a narrow line holding the glaze edge. The back is flat, sits comfortably, and carries no stray solder points.

The nine-character mantra is usually written lin bing dou zhe jie zhen lie qian xing, traced to Ge Hong's Baopuzi, in the chapter on mountain travel. It was recited on entering the mountains, the nine characters separated, a pause after each. Tantric Buddhism later has its own nine-character mantra, and the two are often run together, though their origins differ. Japanese Shugendo and ninja lore use the same nine characters and spread the idea more noisily than China did, which leads people to assume the thing is Japanese.

Enamel is a glass glaze, ground to powder and packed into the cells of the metal, fired until it melts, cooled, ground flat, then fired and ground again through several rounds. The colour is stable and will not fade in decades. What it fears is impact and sudden temperature change: a drop chips it, and a chip cannot be filled, only the whole panel refired. Washing dishes or soaking in hot water will cloud the surface sooner or later. Fire it too few times and the colour goes flat, with no light coming through. Blues, whites and reds dominate because the palette is limited by the oxides; you cannot mix whatever you like.

Two options on the link: the pendant alone, or with a Chopin chain. A Chopin chain is a run of small close links, soft, with good drape, and it does not compete with a square plaque. Square plaques have a known habit of turning over after a few steps, so you lift a hand to right them; round ones behave better. On a thin neck, do not choose too short a chain, or the plaque will ride up on the collarbone. The clasp is a spring ring, which loosens with use; pinch it tight now and then.

The white copper body is unplated, and dust settles in the recessed cells, most visibly in the strokes. Brush it dry rather than soaking it, since water trapped at the seam between glaze and metal dries slowly and starts corrosion from the edge inward. When the copper dulls, wipe it with a soft cloth. Do not go at the enamel with toothpaste, which cuts the gloss over time until nothing brings it back. It contains nickel, so test it against skin first if you are sensitive, and wipe it down on sweaty summer days. The enamel rim is what chips; lose a flake and the copper shows through.