Level Sword, Swirling Ribbons

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This polychrome standing guardian blazes in red and gold. Beneath an ornate crown, black beard falling to his chest and eyes wide with fury, he wears golden scale armour edged in vermilion; his right hand grips a long sword held level across the waist, its blade straight, the presence pressing close. Behind his shoulders two great ribbons whirl upward and coil into broad arcs, and the hem of the armoured skirt rolls with flame patterns that, with the red edging, seem to set the whole figure burning. Beneath his feet is a pedestal of five-coloured clouds: orange-red and teal cloud banks layered together with grey rocks between, and at the very bottom a ring of blue waves curling to close the base — cloud, stone and water in one frame, making the gold and red above stand out the more. A piece to stand by a doorway or at the entrance of a space: guardian of the threshold, impossible to forget at a glance.