【 The Concept 】
A pair of dragons — the zodiac dragon of the New Year — made as dorei, clay bells, and cast as a and un. One holds its mouth wide open (a), the other closes it firm (un): the first and last sounds, the beginning and the end, the out-breath and the in, a guardian pair set to protect a space the way the open- and closed-mouthed lions do at a shrine gate. Each cradles a wish-granting jewel in its little paws — gold in the open-mouthed dragon, silver in the closed — sun and moon, yang and yin, wealth and balance held together. The dragon itself is the water-god of East Asian myth, bringer of rain and cloud, the beast of rising and advancement, and here, green as new growth, it carries all of that in miniature: fortune, success, and the turn of the year. As bells they are also charms of sound — the clear ring of a clay bell has long been thought to drive off ill fortune and call good spirits near — and there is a quiet poetry in the pair: the open-mouthed a has its voice and rings, while the closed un keeps its silence. Sound and stillness, kept together on a shelf.
【 The Function 】
A small pair of good-luck bells, made to be set out together. They take up almost no room — a shelf, a cabinet, an entrance, a New-Year display — and the two face and answer each other, so they read as a set rather than two of a kind. Light and hollow, easy to bring out for the New Year and pleasant to keep out all year, each with a red-and-white cord at the head for hanging. The open-mouthed one still rings; the closed-mouthed one is silent by nature. Set them where their two faces can be seen turned toward one another.
【 The Texture 】
Matte earthenware, hand-painted in the festive manner of a kinsai (gold-decorated) clay bell. The bodies are a soft sage green, every scale brushed over with gold so the coats catch the light in a fine reptilian shimmer; the round bellies are left a pale, matte blush-pink, ringed with soft horizontal folds. The faces are worked up in colour — white brows and whiskers, gold horns, a red kumadori flush at the cheeks and around the open red mouth, small black-and-gold eyes — the fierce mask of a dragon softened into something friendly. A gold or silver jewel sits in each pair of paws, and a twisted red-and-white cord is tied at the crown. Each is hollow and light as a bell should be, and being hand-painted, the two wear slightly different expressions.
【 Presence 】
Bright, festive, and good-humoured. Where a solemn guardian glowers, these two keep the a-un watch with round bellies and friendly faces — fierce enough to mean it, soft enough to smile. Small and vivid, the green-and-gold pair bring a shelf a shot of New-Year colour and the quiet reassurance of a matched guardian set: one to speak, one to keep silence, together warding trouble and calling in luck. A cheerful, hopeful thing — an auspicious pair to keep in sight and, now and then, to ring.
Sourced from a private collection in Japan.
【 The Concept 】
A pair of dragons — the zodiac dragon of the New Year — made as dorei, clay bells, and cast as a and un. One holds its mouth wide open (a), the other closes it firm (un): the first and last sounds, the beginning and the end, the out-breath and the in, a guardian pair set to protect a space the way the open- and closed-mouthed lions do at a shrine gate. Each cradles a wish-granting jewel in its little paws — gold in the open-mouthed dragon, silver in the closed — sun and moon, yang and yin, wealth and balance held together. The dragon itself is the water-god of East Asian myth, bringer of rain and cloud, the beast of rising and advancement, and here, green as new growth, it carries all of that in miniature: fortune, success, and the turn of the year. As bells they are also charms of sound — the clear ring of a clay bell has long been thought to drive off ill fortune and call good spirits near — and there is a quiet poetry in the pair: the open-mouthed a has its voice and rings, while the closed un keeps its silence. Sound and stillness, kept together on a shelf.
【 The Function 】
A small pair of good-luck bells, made to be set out together. They take up almost no room — a shelf, a cabinet, an entrance, a New-Year display — and the two face and answer each other, so they read as a set rather than two of a kind. Light and hollow, easy to bring out for the New Year and pleasant to keep out all year, each with a red-and-white cord at the head for hanging. The open-mouthed one still rings; the closed-mouthed one is silent by nature. Set them where their two faces can be seen turned toward one another.
【 The Texture 】
Matte earthenware, hand-painted in the festive manner of a kinsai (gold-decorated) clay bell. The bodies are a soft sage green, every scale brushed over with gold so the coats catch the light in a fine reptilian shimmer; the round bellies are left a pale, matte blush-pink, ringed with soft horizontal folds. The faces are worked up in colour — white brows and whiskers, gold horns, a red kumadori flush at the cheeks and around the open red mouth, small black-and-gold eyes — the fierce mask of a dragon softened into something friendly. A gold or silver jewel sits in each pair of paws, and a twisted red-and-white cord is tied at the crown. Each is hollow and light as a bell should be, and being hand-painted, the two wear slightly different expressions.
【 Presence 】
Bright, festive, and good-humoured. Where a solemn guardian glowers, these two keep the a-un watch with round bellies and friendly faces — fierce enough to mean it, soft enough to smile. Small and vivid, the green-and-gold pair bring a shelf a shot of New-Year colour and the quiet reassurance of a matched guardian set: one to speak, one to keep silence, together warding trouble and calling in luck. A cheerful, hopeful thing — an auspicious pair to keep in sight and, now and then, to ring.
Sourced from a private collection in Japan.
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