Chinese Toggle Depicting a Phoenix

A creamy white bird tucks its beak back over its shoulder and refuses to elaborate.

This toggle depicting a phoenix is from China. It is carved jade. Many toggles carried auspicious symbols drawn from wordplay, so a monkey, whose word can sound like the word for Marquis, suggested high rank, and a carp suggested success in civil service examinations. The bird sits upright with a swept-back head and a tall fan of incised feather lines across the folded wing. A small pointed tail kicks up behind. The surface is a milky white with a gentle sheen. It is 2.25 inches wide, 1.4 deep and 1.75 high.

Grooming, apparently, is a serious business.