Chinese Toggle Depicting Fish

A fish dressed in scale-pattern netting with a black-tipped nose.

This toggle depicting fish is from China. It is jade. Many toggles carried auspicious symbols drawn from wordplay, so a monkey, whose word can sound like the word for Marquis, suggested high rank, and a carp suggested success in civil service examinations. The plump body is covered in fine incised scale lines and ends in a flared, ruffled tail. Pale celadon coloring turns dark brown at the snout, with small rust specks along the back. The finish is smooth. It is 2.25 inches long, 0.25 deep and 1.25 high.

Properly scaled, properly finned, properly pleased.