Chinese Toggle Depicting Fruit Rattle with Seed

Rosy, rippled lump with a cluster of round holes on one side.

This carved wood toggle depicting a fruit rattle with seed is from China, and dates to the 20th century. Carved wood toggles, like netsuke in Japan, show a wide range of subjects drawn from nature and daily life, with a small hole for the cord. Smooth, pinkish-brown carved form with soft folds and a curved rim around a shallow hollow. One flat side is dark and pierced with a ring of neat round holes. Small cracks and polish marks show across the top. It is 1 inches wide, 1.5 deep and 1.5 high.

Soft on the outside, systematically perforated on the underside.