Enameled silver hat ornament in the shape of the Eight Trigrams or Pa Kua. The Trigrams each consist of three lines either ‘broken’ or ‘unbroken’ which were used in Taoist cosmology. Each trigram has a meaning for instance Heaven, Lake, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain and Earth. Inside the Pa Kua is a Yin Yang symbol consisting of two fishes. Yin and Yang represent opposite forces which are actually complementary and inside the Pa Kua they represent a balance in 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’ which is a flow of energy that binds the universe, earth, and humanity together. This ornament served as an amulet and dates from the late Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912) or early Republic Period (1912 - 1947). Width 3.2 cm. Depth 0.6 cm.