Hand on the Sword

Viewing notes

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

This polychrome guardian stands in full armour, black-faced and bearded, his eyes wide in a stern, wrathful glare. A golden crown rises above his brow, its ribbons flaring red behind. Gilt scale armour covers him from neck to foot, a beast's head embossed on the breastplate, another snarling at the shoulder, the waist cinched by layered belts. His right hand rests on a long sword pointed at the ground, its tassel hanging loose, while the left hand reaches forward, palm out, as if halting something unseen. Behind him, crimson robe-hems and golden sashes curl into great arcs, and vines and roundels run densely over every surface — gold, red and deep green in balance. He stands on a dark cloud-scroll base outlined in gold. Fierce yet upright, he suits the flank of a shrine or a hall entrance — a presence that settles a room at first glance.