Amulet of Mystery

The group assignment involved finding nine things in your junk drawer and photographing them, then choosing one to examine in great detail, perhaps making a grid of the process (Extra), and writing your impressions.

This is the object that most intrigues me, chiefly because I have no idea what it is, nor do I remember where it came from, or how it got in that top right drawer of the bureau. It was with the keychainy things, and it measures a thumb knuckle from top to bottom, and again from mouth to tail, or approximately an inch and a half. It’s metal, and although it doesn’t quite shine up like brass, it has a distinctive metallic smell that stays on your fingers. The piece has a comfortable weight in the hand, and that very smooth spot just below the fin and above the curve of the bridge is perfect to rub, as if for good luck. It’s actually impossible to hold this thing without rubbing your thumb across that smooth spot. I’m guessing it’s a souvenir, but from where? it may commemorate something, but what? it has characters from a language I don’t know, but which one? it may hold memories of the sea, but there are seven of those.  The fish appears to be smiling. Are those islands on its back, or scales?  What is the significance of that lowermost fin? It is far away from the fish itself, but it doesn’t seem to belong to the bridge. As for the bridge, one of the pilings extends down to the lettering, but I can’t decipher the right side. It looks like a platform that workmen would stand on to clean the rust from the supports, but there is something else, barely there. Part of the message, or part of the image? I sent a photo to friends who have lived in China, but I haven’t heard back from them. 


The reverse side is full of mystery. There is a warrior, an Asian horseman by the look of his clothes, and he faces backwards as he gallops. There is such energy and movement in this tiny drawing. The curved lines move the eye, the swords point the way through the image. Such careful detail in the clothing and in the horse’s mane! The warrior defends himself with two massive swords, one in each hand. He seems to have deflected, even broken, an approaching arrow on the left, but another one comes from the right, straight and true. Perhaps the horse will swerve in time, for the man appears to be focused on something behind him. The horse is racing away from the danger, so fast his legs are blurred. And what is in the background—ten vertical objects on the horizon? On the crest of a hill? There is yet another horizontal arrow, faint in the sky; perhaps those marks are shafts of buried arrows, a history of war or conquest, or the remembrance of death. And what is on the right, just above the eye of the horse—two flags, one strong, one faint: notes? some more writing?  There is more complex writing on the back than the front, maybe even a different writing system. Below the caption is another figure, a signature perhaps.

The object is thickest at the bottom, where the writing is on the front. The writing and the bridge are very strong and defined. On the reverse the emphasis seems to be on the hands holding the swords; details fade away at the edges of the amulet. There is a ring at the top of the piece, so it is clearly meant to be worn, or hung, or carried somehow. Perhaps it is a medal. I am trying to reconcile the ancient warrior with the very modern bridge, and the somewhat whimsical fish. I have not thought of a sensible story to connect them. How I wish I knew what was written there, and by whom…

According to my baker’s scale, this weighs 7/10 of an ounce, or 21 grams.

(I have googled the heck out of this, with no luck. I thought for sure there would be a match of the exact piece. The words on the reverse may or may not be Chinese or Japanese, translating as “at the scene of…”. or  “on the (movie) set…”, neither of which really makes any sense. The writing on the front isn’t recognized as writing by google.)


Of course I welcome any insights and suggestions…