Chinese Toggle Depicting Pensive Monkey

A slender figure sits hunched in thought on a stout round plinth, chin firmly on fist.

This carved wood toggle depicting a pensive monkey is from China, and dates to the 20th century. Carvers of Chinese toggles often chose monkeys, whose expressive faces and flexible limbs suited a small sculpture that had to sit comfortably against a robe. A narrow dark figure squats with its arms drawn up to its face, set on a chunky cylindrical base. The surface is glossy black-brown with small pale scuffs on the plinth, and the carving is simplified and smooth. It is 1 inches wide, 1 deep and 2.5 high.

Deep thinker, slightly shiny, entirely unbothered by the schedule.