The Emperors Dragon

[Andrew Biggs]

One of the fun things about engraving a project like this is that you have to research the subject you are engraving.

In this case it is a Chinese Emperors dragon and a symbol of imperial authority. What denotes the type of dragon is the number of claws, which in this case is five. Nobles had 4 claws and commoners had three. So if you are going to engrave a dragon you may as well set your sights high.

The Dragon also holds a pearl ball which is normally associated with wealth, prosperity and good luck. The Asian dragon is also considered to be the rulers of moving water like rivers, waterfalls and the seas.

The photos are by William Henry.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Sam]

Man, that's a killer piece of work, Andrew! Great composition!

 

[SamW]

Very nice and very interesting Andrew. Must be the year of the dragon. I sent you an email. S.

 

[Tira]

Very nice. Clever using the screw hole for he pearl on the one side. Very cool!

 

[thughes]

Wow Andrew, that is just too cool. Thanks for showing.

Todd

 

[Big-Un]

Great design Andrew. Not many people know the hierarchy of dragons. I learned it, quite emphatically I might add, when studying the Shaolin style martial art from a Chinese master. He was visiting the US and come to our dojo and gave us further instruction and history. I've never seen a man so fast and smooth, perfectly fluid in his movements. I have always considered his thoughts on royalty and dragons and try to respect the tradition when doing dragons.

Bill

 

[Montejano]

Friend Andrew :

* That imperial dragon looks very nice and holds a beautiful composition on the knife. My congratulations and thanks for sharing your work.:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

Antonio

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

Excellent Andrew, a dragon is not an easy subject, great job!

 

[BrianPowley]

Very nice Andrew. Stunning workmanship.

 

[monk]

quite nice, andrew. i believe the pearl represents the dragons' "toy". with toy, a dragon is quite friendly. if no toy, they are evil & not to be trusted. i think i read this in jb meeks book, "the art of engraving".

 

[Southern Custom]

You are absolutely right about the dragon. Dragon with ball, happy. No ball or toy, nasty.

 

[SamW]

From what I have read on the subject(and there are many other sources) the fu-can-lung dragon is the guardian of the treasures of the earth. They reside in caves and are depicted with a magical pearl which represents the greatest treasure of all, wisdom, hense the term 'a pearl of wisdom'. As is said, your milage may differ.

 

[jetta77]

Awesome work Andrew! Dragons are on my engraving to do list. love it!

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Thanks for the likes and comments......it was a fun piece to do.

It's interesting reading the different sources with these things. Whilst mostly similar, different regions can have different variations about the actual mythology of these things.

Monk..........Dragons with their toys sound just like boys with their toys

Cheers
Andrew

 

[monk]

yes, andrew. be mindful though, dragons are born as adults, they suffer not the trials of childhood !

 

[Artemiss]

Love it!