Chinese Toggle Depicting Mythological Creature Hugging Gourd
About this piece
Twisting creature hugs a gourd in honey and cream, with scrolls and holes everywhere.
This toggle depicting mythological creature hugging gourd is from China, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is jade. The dragon is a popular toggle motif symbolizing wisdom, ambition and prosperity, a five-clawed version represented the emperor, and a dragon with a phoenix suggested marriage and was a wedding gift. Curled tendrils, leaves and a bulging gourd form on the right fill this oval, openwork piece, pierced here and there. The color shifts from pale cream and grey to rich caramel brown. Finely incised veins and dots mark the leaves and the gourd. It is 2.25 inches wide, 0.75 deep and 1.75 high.
Everything is curling, and nothing is complaining.
