Chinese Toggle Depicting Scholar

A long-bearded face on a rounded body, one hand tucked in a sleeve.

This toggle depicting scholar is from China. 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. The figure has a high domed brow, deep-set eyes and a long beard that falls to the chest, with robe folds carved below. The stone is a pale green-yellow with fine hairline cracks and a soft polish. It is 1.25 inches long, 0.25 deep and 2 high.

Wisdom delivered in a very compact package.