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A Chinese charm displaying non-Chinese characters was recently featured on the website of the Beijing Hanhai Auction Company (北京翰海拍卖有限公司).

The only information provided, besides its size and weight, is that the charm “has writing from one of the ethnic minority groups of China”.  No translation is offered nor is there any hint as to the charm’s possible purpose.

At the left is the obverse side of the charm.

The shape of the characters and the colors of the patina make for a visually striking appearance much more akin to an ancient Chinese bronze.

The checkered field between the characters adds to its attractiveness.

This charm is not well documented but some experts believe it to be a Chinese Buddhist charm.

The inscription is not written in the script of one of the ethnic minorities of China but rather in Sanskrit.

The inscription is believed to be “a mi tuo fo” (啊弥陀佛).  “A mi tuo” (啊弥陀) is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word “Amida” which means “boundless”.  The “fo” (佛) refers to Buddha.

The inscription thus references the Amida Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism and the expression “a mi tuo fo” is considered to be a Buddhist blessing with the general meaning of “may Buddha protect” or “take refuge in the Buddha”.

The reverse side of the charm also has four Sanskrit characters but, unfortunately, the meaning of the inscription is still not understood.

Although Buddhist temple coins were popular during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the first appearance of this Buddhist charm with its Sanskrit inscription is believed to have occurred during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The charm has a diameter of 41.6 mm, a thickness of 2.1 mm, and a weight of 17.9 grams.

Please visit Buddhist Charms for additional images and a more detailed discussion of the history of Buddhist temple coins and charms in China.

Note:  This article was updated on January 4, 2015 as follows:

The authoritative “Great Dictionary of China Numismatics” (中國錢幣大辭典) published a 995-page volume entitled “Chinese Charms” (壓勝錢編) in January, 2013.

Regarding the charm discussed above, the dictionary (page 556) confirms that it is Chinese and dates from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The dictionary offers two opinions as to the inscription on the obverse side.  It may be Sanskrit with the meaning “a mi tuo fo”.  The other possibility is that it is the six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra “om mani padme hum“ (an ma ni ba mi hong 唵嘛呢叭咪吽).

Unfortunately, the dictionary admits that the inscription on the reverse side remains “unknown”.

However, another specimen of this charm appeared in an auction in China on May 20, 2014.

According to the auction house, the obverse inscription is Sanskrit for “a mi tuo fo“.

The inscription on the reverse side is Sanskrit for “Heaven, Earth, Water, Fire” (天地水火).

The interrelationship of these concepts is described in ancient Chinese texts such as the “Yi Jing” or “Book of Changes” (易经).  “Heaven” (天) and “Earth” (地) are considered as a pair of opposites, as are “Water” (水) and “Fire” (火).

The dualities of heaven and earth, and water and fire, are representative of the harmony and balance in nature.

The Liao Dynasty (辽朝 916-1125) was ruled by a nomadic people known as the Qidan (Khitan 契丹) and occupied an area of the northern prairies of China that included Manchuria, a portion of Mongolia, as well as parts of Hebei and Shanxi provinces.

Charms from the Liao Dynasty are fairly rare and, because the Qidan script is not well understood, the inscriptions can be difficult to understand.

Dr. Werner Burger (布威纳), a recognized expert in Chinese numismatics, published an article in the 108th issue (2010) of “China Numismatics” (中國錢幣) in which he introduced an old Liao Dynasty charm which had not previously appeared in any catalog or reference book.

The image at the left is the picture of the charm as published in the magazine.

Although the Qidan people used Chinese characters on their coinage, they preferred to use their own script for their charms or “folk custom coins” (民俗钱).

The Qidan script had two types of characters, namely “large characters” and “small characters”.

The inscription on this charm is written in the “small character” Qidan script.

The characters are similar to Chinese but still different enough that only experts in the Qidan language are able to offer a translation.

These distinctive Qidan script characters can be seen more clearly in the rubbing at the left.

While inscriptions on Liao Dynasty coins tend to be read clockwise beginning with the character at the top of the square hole, the characters on this Liao Dynasty charm are read counter-clockwise beginning at the bottom of the round hole.

According to the experts, the character at the bottom is tian (天), which means “heaven”, and the character at the right is chang (長) which translates as “of long duration”.  The character at the top is di (地) meaning “earth” and the character at the left is yong (永) which means “forever”.

According to the article, the “meaning” of the inscription is tian chang di jiu (天长地久) or “as eternal and unchanging as the universe”.

This inscription is taken from the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching 道得经), the ancient Daoist (Taoist) text attributed to Laozi.

The article explains that it is not unusual for a Liao Dynasty charm to have a Daoist inscription.  While the Han people were influenced by Confucius and the Mongols by Buddha, the Qidans had a strong belief in Daoism.  Few Qidan writings exist today but it is known that a number of Daoist texts were translated into the Qidan language while Confucian and Buddhist texts were not.

This coin has a diameter of 27 mm and a weight of 11.5 grams.  The reverse side is blank with no characters.

Dr. Burger concludes the article by stating that, with the exception of this Liao Dynasty charm, he is not aware of the existence of any other Chinese charm with this Daoist inscription earlier than the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

For examples of Qing Dynasty charms with this same Daoist inscription, please see my discussions of a rarely seen vase-shaped pendant charm, a lock charm and a peach charm.

One of the major characteristics of Chinese charms is the rebus or “visual pun” where a picture is used to represent a word.  While it can sometimes be challenging, it is always interesting to figure out what, at first glance, the haphazard collection of animals and objects displayed on a Chinese charm are supposed to mean.

A very knowledgeable collector of Chinese charms recently contacted me regarding an old Chinese charm he had just acquired.  From the reading of the Chinese characters and based on his experience, he had a good idea of what the images on the reverse side had to be.

But even knowing this, he was having difficulty identifying one of the pictures.

The inscription on his charm reads fu lu shou xi (福禄寿喜) which translates as good fortune, salary (emolument), longevity and happiness.

This particular charm is a good example of the Chinese fondness for visual puns or rebuses.

Knowing this, the four pictures on the reverse side should either be pronounced fu, lu, shou or xi, or “symbolize” good fortune, salary, longevity or happiness.

This is the reverse side of the charm.

At the very top is a bat flying upside down.  The Chinese word for “bat” is fu (蝠) which has the same pronunciation as “good fortune” (fu 福) in the written inscription on the other side of the charm.

But the “pun” goes even deeper.  The Chinese word for “upside down” (dao 倒) happens to have the same pronunciation as the word “to arrive” (dao 到).  Therefore, if a person were to say “the bat is upside down” (fu dao 蝠倒), it would sound exactly as if one had said “good fortune has arrived” (fu dao 福到)!

As you have probably guessed, the image below the square hole has the same pronunciation as the Chinese character in the same position on the other side of the charm.  The image is of a “deer” and the Chinese word for “deer” (lu 鹿) does in fact have the same pronunciation as the word for “salary” (lu 禄).

There is an image of a bird to the right of the hole.  In this case, the bird does not have the same pronunciation as the corresponding Chinese character (shou 寿) in the inscription, but instead is a traditional Chinese symbol with the same meaning of “longevity”.  To the Chinese, the “crane” (he 鹤) is a symbol of longevity because it was believed to live to a very old age and also because its feathers are white.

Truth be told, the artist that designed this charm long ago made a slight mistake which goes unnoticed by most people.  If you look very closely, and if you know your birds, you will see that the bird is actually not a “crane”, which it surely was intended to be, but rather a “heron”.  The “heron” or “egret” (lu 鹭), nevertheless, still works as a rebus because it shares the same pronunciation as the word for “salary” (lu 禄).

To be consistent with the rebus theme of the charm, the picture to the left of the hole should be pronounced xi just like the corresponding Chinese character (“happiness”) on the other side of the charm.  This is where my collector friend ran into a slight problem.  He knew the Chinese word for “mandarin duck” is xi (鸂) but the image on the charm does not look like a duck!

He had the correct pronunciation but the wrong bird.  The bird is actually a “magpie” (xi qui 喜鹊) which has the word “happiness” (xi 喜) as part of its name.  Even more interesting, the charm shows two magpies so the meaning is “double happiness” (囍)!

I thank my friend for sharing with me this new addition to his collection.

This old charm, which is 38 mm in diameter and dates from the Qing (Ch’ing) Dynasty (1644-1911), exemplifies the special characteristics of the Chinese language, the richness of Chinese symbolism along with the fondness of the Chinese for the rebus or “visual pun”.

In ancient China, charms were created to promote good luck and fortune in the major events of a person’s life such as marriage, the birth of children and promotion to an important government position.

The celebration of sports was not a major theme of either Chinese coins or charms until very modern times with the current popularity of souvenir and commemorative coins.

According to FIFA, the earliest documented evidence for the origin of football is a Chinese military manual dating from the second to third centuries BC which describes an exercise of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair through an opening 30-40 cm wide into a small net fixed on long bamboo canes.

The Chinese called this football sport cuju (蹴鞠).  Cu means “kick the ball with the feet” and ju refers to “a ball made of hide”.   The game of cuju was popular at least as early as the Warring States Period (475 BC – 221 BC) when it was used for military training.

The “football” charm shown here recently appeared in “China Numismatics”* and dates from the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD).

Not only is the subject unusual but this charm exhibits some of the outstanding artistic characteristics of the Song Dynasty which is considered one of the golden eras of Chinese art.

The four football players surrounding the square hole are sculpted in a minimalist style that conveys energy and movement with each player displaying a different action.

The players at the top and bottom are seen moving towards the right while the two players on the sides are running towards the left.

The figure at the top is running toward the ball, which is shown at the one o’clock position, preparing to kick it.  The player at the right has just “headed” the ball.  The player below the hole is running at full speed while the player at the left appears to have just kicked the ball.

This minimalist style was epitomized  by the famous Southern Song Dynasty painter Liang Kai (梁楷).

Liang Kai (1140-1210 AD) relied on only the essential details to convey the essence of the subject.

In his quest to find the essence of being, he ultimately resigned his position at the court in order to practice Chan Buddhism.

The principles of Chan Buddhism (禅宗) include spontaneity and “sudden enlightenment” which can be seen in his own style of painting.

China’s Chan Buddhism would eventually spread to Japan where it evolved into Zen.

Interestingly enough, the game of football was also played by women in ancient China.

Shown at the left is the image of a woman kicking a ball.  This stone engraving is from a Han Dynasty tomb (206 BC -220 AD).

Women were traditionally limited in regard to outside public activities but football became a popular sport for women, particularly those of the court, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and especially during the Song Dynasty.

It seems appropriate, therefore, that the reverse side of this old football charm would display, in a minimalist style, the traditional symbols of a man and a woman.

The animated dragon can be recognized at the right even though it lacks such details as scales.

The phoenix with its wings and graceful posture is at the left.

 

* Charm images from Issue #112 (2011) of “China Numismatics” (中國錢幣).