Chinese Jade Toggle

A small white H-shaped block with a raised panel and tidy corners.

This toggle 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 piece has a squared outline with two notches cut in opposite sides and a central raised ridge. The surface is soft white with light brown shadows in the recesses and a smooth, slightly chalky finish. It is 1 inches long, 0.25 deep and 1 high.

Practically a tiny architecture of its own.