{"product_id":"loyal-circle-african-opal-dog-zodiac-necklace","title":"The Loyal Circle — Garnet Dog Zodiac Necklace","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHan families were buried with pottery dogs so that somebody would still be watching the gate.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOpen a Han dynasty tomb and you find a household in miniature. Model granaries, model wells, model watchtowers, model stoves. And dogs — glazed pottery dogs, collared, ears up, set beside the gate of a house nobody was going to live in again.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey were not toys and they were not ornaments. They were staff. The belief was practical to the point of being domestic: the dead go on keeping house, and a house without a dog at the gate is not a finished house.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo thousand years later they come out of the ground still standing in the same position.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHan families were buried with pottery dogs so that somebody would still be watching the gate.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eXu, the eleventh earthly branch, is the double hour from seven until nine in the evening. The hour the door gets shut. Everyone is home or they are not coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe dog is gold and mid-stride, head up, and there are butterflies drifting through the circle around it. The opal is set plainly on the far side.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eButterflies with a guard dog is an odd pairing and it is the reason I like this one. Loyalty in the sign is not the same thing as being fixed in place. The dog is moving and it is still watching.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe metal is solid 925 sterling silver. The gold is a plated finish over that silver and the dark rim is a black finish over the same silver — plating is a surface, it wears with time, the silver underneath does not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePosted to you tracked. 5–10 days to the UK.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe coat is cut in strand by strand across the whole body, which is what keeps it from reading as a generic animal at small size.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural African opal — 4 mm round\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNano black accent stones — laboratory-made, not mined\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver, gold plated, with a black finish on the rim\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePendant 25.49 mm across, on a box chain\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFree UK delivery · 5–10 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWorn for centuries as the sign of staying without being owned. Some people feel something when they put a sign on. Some don't. Either way it is an old idea and it is accurately made.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49044069679274,"sku":"ASI8-OPA-026","price":189.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/26-1.jpg?v=1786612346","url":"https:\/\/asieight.com\/products\/loyal-circle-african-opal-dog-zodiac-necklace","provider":"Asi8","version":"1.0","type":"link"}