The Pixiu

The Pixiu is a winged creature from Chinese mythology, usually described as having the head of a dragon and the body of a lion. Its defining trait is appetite: it eats gold, silver and precious stones, and — depending on the telling — has no anus, so it keeps what it consumes.

That unflattering detail is the whole point. The Pixiu is a wealth symbol precisely because it does not let wealth leave.

In practice the carving matters as much as the motif. A Pixiu cut from a stone with good water reads as a solid mass of colour; the same design cut from a cloudy stone loses its definition. Carvers often choose dense material for this reason.