Chinese Toggle Depicting a Mythological Creature

Smoky brown and pale green fuse into a crouching beast with an enormous swirling tail.

This toggle depicting a mythological creature is from China. It is carved jade. Toggles originally worn for practical use later became valued gifts and artworks, and the article notes that the netsuke of Japan, a similar counterweight for kimono sashes, originated with Chinese toggles. A heavy, compact animal sits low with its face pressed forward and a great scrolled tail swept up its back. Honey-brown patches blend into milky green, and the surface is smooth with softened carved edges. It is 1.5 inches wide, 1.25 deep and 1 high.

Mostly tail, and entirely unapologetic about the proportions.