Wealth & Success

A clear sphere filled with gold leaf, set on a black wooden stand. The feng shui ball is kept for movement, the idea that fortune should circulate rather than sit, and gold leaf inside glass makes that visible: every flake catches a different angle...

A column of brass bells on a red cord, tassel below. Bells are the simplest metal element object in feng shui. Hung at a door or a window, they move the air that has gone still and announce whoever comes in. Strung in a...

A brass bell, five coins and a tassel, made to hang at a door. In feng shui, the sound of metal is used to move air that has gone still and to mark a threshold, and a bell by the door does both each...

The five emperor coins, worn as an open band. The coins come from the reigns of Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong and Jiaqing, the first hundred and fifty years of the Qing dynasty, when the empire was at its most settled. Strung together they have...

A pixiu carved in matte obsidian, hung on an adjustable 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...

The Pixiu (貓貚), wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui, cast in titanium steel. 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 its wearer....

Your zodiac animal on cinnabar red, in a brass case that turns. Cinnabar is the red mineral Chinese tradition has used for protection for longer than it has used ink, ground into the pigment of temple doors and the paste under a seal. Here...

A sword of peachwood with a dragon along the blade and a red tassel. The peachwood sword is the Taoist priest's tool, the one carried into a house that needs clearing. Peach is the wood the tradition holds that spirits will not cross, which...

An ox in flat, folded planes, with its horns swept wide. The ox is the animal of patient work in Chinese tradition, the one that turns the field before anything can grow, and it is kept in the home for steady earnings and for...

A glass gourd filled with gold leaf, standing on a black base. The hulu (葫芦) is the calabash gourd, narrow at the neck and wide in the belly, and it has been kept in Chinese homes for the simple reason that whatever goes in...

A gold ingot in clear amber glass, stamped with the character 福. The yuanbao (元宝) is the boat-shaped ingot that was China's currency for centuries, and it is still the shape money takes in a feng shui room: on the god of wealth's tray,...

A brass zodiac disc, a turning coin set into its back. The twelve animals each take a year in turn, and carrying your own has been a habit in Chinese households for a long time, most of all in the year it comes round...

The beckoning cat, eyes squeezed shut in a grin, paw waving on sunlight. Maneki-neko started in the shops of Edo Japan and has sat by tills across East Asia ever since, one paw raised to call people in through the door. This one wears...

Caishen, the god of wealth, nodding on the dashboard. Caishen (财神) is the figure Chinese households welcome on the fifth day of the new year, when shops reopen and firecrackers go off to call him in. He is shown here as he is on...

A laughing Buddha in a gold robe, fanning himself whenever the sun is out. Budai, the laughing monk, is kept for contentment and easy fortune, the figure who owns nothing but a cloth sack and laughs anyway. This one sits on a small solar...

A pixiu crouched on a ruyi, carved from one piece of obsidian. The pixiu (貔貝) is the wealth guardian that takes fortune in and has no way to let it go. The ruyi (如意) it rests on is the curled sceptre whose name means...

A red cord braided in the vajra knot, with a small obsidian hulu. The red string is the oldest protective charm in Chinese dress, tied on at a birth year, a wedding, or the start of something uncertain. The hulu (葫芦), the calabash gourd,...

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...