Four Guardians Ring 'Shijin'

Open silver band with the four guardian beasts in round medallions

Four beasts in four circles. This wide open band carries the four guardians of the directions, the dragon of the east, the tiger of the west, the phoenix of the south and the tortoise of the north, each in a round medallion with a darkened, stippled ground, on a wide polished silver band split at the back. The beasts are small and drawn in line, and the polished silver between them is what makes them read.

It is the ring in the collection with the most iconography and the cleanest surface, and the two go together: the medallions are the pattern, the band is the frame.

The name, Shijin, is the four gods, the four guardian beasts of the compass, and the ring has all of them.

The band is sterling silver, stamped 925 inside the band, about 12 mm wide at the front and narrowing towards the split, polished bright with the four medallions recessed and darkened. It is open at the back and springs a little.

Wear it on the index or middle finger of either hand, and on its own. It is a ring for a plain outfit, where the polished band does the work, and it goes as easily with a shirt as with a hoodie.

The four beasts are the ones painted on the walls of the old tombs and on the four sides of a city, and their order on the ring follows the compass. The tortoise is the one with the snake wrapped round it, which is how it is always drawn.

From across a table it is a wide polished band with dark spots. From close the spots are the four beasts in their circles, the ground shows its stipple, and the band its polish. It is the ring for someone who wants the compass on their hand.

Every ring in the collection is photographed on the same pale ground at the same scale, so the pages compare with each other: what looks big here is big on the hand. The measurements given are taken across the face, not round the finger.

Silver darkens with time and skin, and this ring is meant to: the recesses are already blackened so the relief reads, and the high points polish themselves against your hand. Wipe with a soft cloth; a silver cloth brings the shine back when you want it. Take it off for the sea and the shower.

The band is open at the back and springs a little, so one size fits most hands: slide it on and it settles. It can be eased wider or narrower by hand once to set it.