Chinese Toggle Depicting Fish

A deep red-brown plaque with tiny stars and a sun scratched across it.

This toggle depicting fish 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 shape is a rounded oblong with a scalloped lower edge and two scrolls at one end. Small incised stars, spirals and a circular sun motif cover the surface. The color is a rich oxblood red, and two small holes pass through. It is 1.25 inches long, 0.25 deep and 2.5 high.

A whole night sky on a very small canvas.