Chinese Toggle Depicting Shoes with Cloud Motif

Two blank wooden pockets sit side by side like shoes awaiting their owner.

This wood toggle depicting shoes with a cloud motif is from China, and dates to the 19th century. Chinese toggles were made to anchor a cord at the sash, and a pair of shoes gave carvers a compact shape with room for surface pattern. A pair of hollow, shoe-shaped boxes join along their length, each with a shallow open top and a thick lip. The wood is plain and warm brown, with softly worn corners and a smooth, undecorated finish. It is 1 inches wide, 1.25 deep and 0.5 high.

Restraint in a block, and nothing wasted on frills.