Chinese Toggle Depicting Kneeling Horse with Monkey

Kneeling horse carries a small figure at its shoulder, with a hole between them.

This toggle depicting kneeling horse with monkey 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. Flowing in the mane and tucked in the legs, a grey-green kneeling horse carries a smaller pale animal on its back near the neck. A round open gap pierces the group between the two heads. Brown streaks run along the haunches and the legs. It is 2 inches wide, 0.75 deep and 1.25 high.

A modest passenger, and a very patient steed.