One character. Nothing else on the piece.

The Fu (Lucky) Pendant is the character 福 — fú, good fortune — cut as a free silhouette. There is no plate behind it and no frame around it: the strokes are the entire pendant, held together only where the calligraphy itself connects them.

The form follows a brush hand rather than a printed font. Strokes swell and taper the way ink does, the falling stroke on the left sweeps out to a point, and the hooks turn and lift instead of stopping square. Getting that into a solid casting without the thin passages going brittle is the whole difficulty of the piece.

The plate is thick — the edge view shows it — with the face left in satin and the cut edges polished bright, so the character is outlined in light along every stroke. The bail is a plain polished band that sits behind the top of the character and stays out of the way.

福 is the most-hung character in the Chinese world — on doors at New Year, over gates, in shop windows. It is often hung upside down on purpose: dào, upside down, sounds like dào, to arrive. Fortune, turned over, becomes fortune arriving.

Why You’ll Love It:

• Free-Cut Silhouette – No backing plate; the strokes themselves are the pendant
• True Calligraphic Form – Brush weighting with swelling strokes, a tapered sweep and lifted hooks
• Substantial Thickness – A heavy plate rather than a cut-out sheet
• Satin Face, Bright Edges – Polished cut edges outline every stroke in light
• Clean Bail – Plain polished band set behind the character
• Solid Gold Throughout – No stones and no plating

Made to order, turnaround time is typically 2-4 weeks.

Specifications

Estimated Weight by Purity