Wealth & Success

The laughing Buddha, carved in black obsidian. He is Budai, the wandering monk of Chinese folk tradition, taken as a form of Maitreya, the Buddha still to come. The open mouth and the bare belly are the whole point. He is kept for good...

A pixiu carved in polished obsidian, hung on a beaded cord. The pixiu (貔貅) is the wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui, a winged creature said to feed on gold and silver and, having no way to let it out, to keep every bit...

A gold pixiu (貔貅) on a silver band that turns. The pixiu is the wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui, a winged creature said to feed on gold and silver and, having no way to let it out again, to keep every piece of...

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...

A sphere of black obsidian, smooth and still in the hand. Obsidian is volcanic glass, formed the moment molten rock meets cold air. It has been kept for grounding and protection for as long as people have carried stone, valued for the way it...

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...

The goldfish, finished with Chinese characters worked into the piece. In Chinese the word for fish sounds like the word for surplus, so fish have long stood for abundance, more than enough to go around. The goldfish is kept for wealth and a calm,...

Gold ingots, cut from synthetic quartz, the old shape of saved wealth. Before paper money, the ingot, the yuanbao, was how fortune was stored in China, and it has carried that meaning into feng shui ever since. As clear quartz rather than metal, these...

The Pixiu, the wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui. A mythical creature with the head of a dragon and the body of a winged lion, the Pixiu is said to feed on gold and silver and, having no way to release what it takes...