Chinese Jade Rectangular Toggle

Dark slab with rounded corners carries its scrolls like a banker carries a briefcase.

This rectangular toggle is from China, and dates to the 19th century. It is jade. Traditional Chinese clothing had no pockets, so people of all social classes, from rickshaw drivers to court scholars, used toggles as counterweights to help secure small bags hanging from their sashes. Deep brown and rectangular, this tablet has softened edges and a small hole near the top. The face is incised with spirals and parallel bands, and a curved motif fills a lower panel. Reddish tones show where the surface has aged unevenly. It is 0.25 inches wide, 1 deep and 2 high.

Serious, dark, and secretly full of decorative curls.