Gilt silver ‘Occupation’ amulet showing several objects on a ‘woven bamboo’ sieve. For the background story on the use of such sieves see Quick Find 0289 & 3285. Depicted on this particular example are an abacus, a ruler, scissors, scales, a mirror and a book. The book on this talisman has the title ‘Tongshu’ which was a concise encyclopedia written by the philosopher Zhou Dunyi (1017 – 1073). Occupation or Profession amulets such as this one were sewn on clothing to bring good fortune to the career and life of their owners. In the centre a mirror on a stand is depicted which symbolizes ‘together’ and is also known to frighten evil spirits. The amulet is marked on the back with the characters ‘Wen Yin’ (Silver) and the name of the maker of which we can only decipher the last two characters ‘Rong Cheng’. It was machine-made and dates from the Republic Period (1912 – 1947). Diameter 2.9 cm. Depth 0.2 cm.