Wealth & Success

A pixiu (貔貅) with red eyes, crouched on a band of old coins. The pixiu draws wealth in and, with no way to let it out, keeps it, which is why it has been worn as a personal charm for centuries by people who...

A gold-tone pixiu (貔貅) on a silver-tone band, a coin at its mouth. The pixiu is the wealth guardian of feng shui, a creature that swallows gold and silver and never passes them, so whatever it draws toward its wearer, it keeps. Here it...

A lidded burner turned from black walnut, with a pierced bronze cap. Coil incense sits in the well beneath and the lid holds the burn steady and slow, so one coil carries a whole afternoon. The carving on each cap is its own small...

A brass wealth bowl that turns on its base. The wealth bowl is kept filled and never emptied, on the old idea that what gathers in it gathers in the house. This one has four figures set around the rim, one to each direction,...

A brass gourd banded with the eight trigrams. The hulu (葫芦) takes its shape from the dried calabash once carried to hold medicine, and its narrow waist is read as the meeting of heaven and earth. Taoist practice has long used it to draw...

A rough cluster of pyrite, the mineral once mistaken for gold. Pyrite is iron sulphide, and it grows in cubes, so a raw piece is all small square faces catching light at different angles. Prospectors called it fool's gold. Feng shui takes the resemblance...

Two deer folded into planes, one standing, one settled. In Chinese the word for deer, lu, is spoken the same way as the word for an official's salary, so a deer in the house has long stood for income and rank. It is also...

A phoenix in glossed blue and gold, rising through a ring of mirrored glass. The fenghuang is the bird of the south in feng shui, kept for opportunity, recognition and a good name, the one set out when a household or a business is...

A laughing Buddha in rough clay, seated inside a ring of light. Budai is kept for contentment, the monk who laughs at what other people worry over, and for the fortune that seems to follow anyone that easy to be around. Here he sits...

The Laughing Buddha rides the dragon turtle over a heap of coins. Budai, the laughing monk, is kept for contentment and for the luck that finds people who are easy to be around. The dragon turtle under him is the feng shui figure for...

A tree of citrine chips, wired branch by branch, rooted in a gold pot. The money tree is the feng shui picture of wealth that grows rather than arrives: many small stones, each one a coin, held up by branches that keep reaching. Citrine...

The Chi Lin is the gentlest of the celestial guardians. Often called the Chinese unicorn or dragon horse, it carries the body of a horse, the scales of a dragon, and a nature known for goodwill rather than force. In feng shui it is...

Two charms in one carving: the pixiu, and the hulu gourd beneath it.The pixiu is the winged creature of Chinese myth with an appetite for gold and no way to pass it, so what it takes in, it keeps. The hulu does the same...

Jade on a hand-tied red cord. Nothing metal.Red cord and jade is the oldest pairing in Chinese jewellery, the stone for steadiness and the thread for connection and luck. Red is the colour worn at every threshold in Chinese life, at new years, weddings,...

A ring of jade with an open centre.The bi disc is one of the oldest forms in Chinese jade, carved and buried with the dead for four thousand years before anyone thought to wear one. The hole at its middle stands for heaven, and...

The Pixiu (貔貅), wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui, paired with unakite and red agate. A winged creature said to feed on gold and silver and, having no way to release what it takes in, to keep every bit of fortune it draws toward...

Red agate on a knotted red string, with a single disc of pale green jade. The red string is the oldest of Chinese protective threads, tied on for luck and for keeping the wearer bound to good fortune. Red agate carries the same warm...

The Pixiu (貔貅), wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui, set among dark green jade and red agate. A winged creature said to feed on gold and silver and, having no way to release what it takes in, to keep every bit of fortune it...

Two Pixiu (貔貅), carved circling a peace buckle of black obsidian. Obsidian is volcanic glass, formed the moment molten rock meets cold air. It has been worn for grounding and protection for as long as people have carried stone, the dark surface said to...

A tag of cinnabar, dragon and yin yang on one face, a wealth talisman on the other. The tradition keeps cinnabar for its quiet power, a red worn against the skin for protection, vitality and fortune that stays. The dragon coils around the yin...