Brass Shi Gan Dang with Twin Lions

A brass tablet between two lions, carved with three characters: 石敢当.

Shi gan dang means, near enough, the stone dares to stand. For over a thousand years small stones cut with these words have been set into walls and at the ends of lanes across China, wherever a road or a neighbour's corner runs straight at a house, to take the brunt of whatever comes down it. The first were cut from Mount Tai, the mountain that stands for steadiness itself. This one is cast in brass and given a guardian lion at each shoulder, so the tablet is watched as well as watching.

It suits a house at a T junction, a flat that faces a long corridor, or a front door that looks straight down a driveway.

Placement: on a sill or shelf facing the road or corner in question, tablet side out, lions facing the same way.