Bone Toggle Charm

Hand-carved from bone, this simple ring is an excellent example of the modest toggles used by Qing-dynasty men much like Japanese netsuke. Because traditional Chinese clothing didn't have pockets, men and women carried their belongings in pouches attached to their belts. Small charms such as this served as counterweights, and occasionally were elaborately carved as fashionable accessories. Toggles made of rare organic materials such as horn, bone, and unusual stones were among the most desirable and make for storied tokens of the past.