White Copper Double Fish Talisman Script Antique Pendant

The option name reads 'golden scales bring blessing', and the face carries a pair of fish with talismanic script. The fish are scaled, each scale a shallow layer of relief, and the script is cut into the gaps across the bodies, small characters that need a close look. The item name and the option name are not the same wording, so check the picture before ordering rather than going by the title. The tails narrow into two lobes, thin, and they are the likeliest place on the plaque to take a knock. The scales overlap in three or four rows, the outermost the largest.

In the Chinese heartland the double fish most familiarly means surplus, since fish sounds like the word for surplus; in the Buddhist eight auspicious symbols the pair means ease and release, and the two readings come from different places. Folk ornaments ignore that and use whatever makes a good phrase: fish with lotus, fish with chime, all paired in old patterns. In the order of the eight symbols the fish comes after the treasure vase and before the golden wheel, and it is often seen on temple vessels. It is usually used as a set, and single pieces are rare. Fish-and-water patterns circulated early here.

The aging treatment blackens the scale seams and leaves the raised parts of the fish bright, so that from a distance it is a fish on a black ground. Aging is a process, not a date, so do not buy it as an old piece. Depth varies within a batch, so check whether the bright spots at eye and tail are even. The ground is dark and the bright areas need even wiping, or one fish comes out half bright and half dark. Whether the dark sits evenly shows the hand at the cloth.

Not many people can read talismanic script, and most of it is traced from traditional patterns. Writing it follows rules: the length of a stroke and the way it begins and ends all matter, and one wrong stroke shows to anyone who knows the forms. The shop's draft is an old pattern, worked from a circulated version, and makes no claim to match any one lineage exactly. The strokes are mostly horizontal and vertical, the cuts shallow, and it takes raking light to read them. Not recognizing them all is no reason to strain; look at the whole.

White copper, and the aged layer fears wiping. Dust with a dry cloth, use a soft brush in the scale seams, and do not soak it. Green verdigris on the copper has to be wiped off at once, since once it works into the seams it is hard to clear. It contains nickel, so sensitive skin should test-wear. The plaque has thickness, so wear it with the inner face in, not reversed. A cord lies against the chest while a chain slides, and the script has to face out to be seen. The back is flat and does not press. The pendant is small, so a thick cord pushes at the collar.