Octagonal rimmed silver amulet which was supposed to protect its owner against attacks by evil spirits and for good ‘Feng Shui’. Feng shui is a Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing everyone with the surrounding environment. The term ‘Feng shui’ literally translates as ‘wind-water’ in English and deals with ‘invisible forces’ known as ‘Qi’, a flow of energy that binds the universe, earth, and humanity together. Depicted on this amulet are the ‘Eight Trigrams’ or ‘Pa Kua’ each consisting of three lines either ‘broken’ or ‘unbroken’ which were used in Taoist cosmology. Every trigram has a meaning for instance Heaven (天 Tiân), Lake (澤(泽 Zé), Fire (火 Huǒ), Thunder (雷 Léi), Wind (風(风 Fēng), Water (水 Shuǐ), Mountain (山 Shān) and Earth (地 Dì). Inside the Pa kua is a Yin Yang symbol consisting of two fish-like creatures. Yin and Yang represent opposite forces which are actually complementary and inside the Pa kua they represent a balance in Feng shui. The other side of this amulet depicts a boy holding a halberd. The halberd (ji) is a pun for ‘Auspicious Happiness’ (jiqing). The boy rides a ‘qilin’, a mythological creature with the body of a deer with scales, the tail of an ox, hooves of a horse and antlers, which had the same role as the stork in the Western world. The two together symbolize the phrase ‘qilin songzi’ (May the qilin bring you a son) and seem to fly over books and scrolls which are two of the ‘Four Scholarly Pursuits’. The amulet dates from the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912). Total length 17 cm. Amulet Height 5.2 cm. Depth 0.4 cm.