Chinese belt toggles called 'zhuizi' are small carved ornaments used as counterweights on the cords of pipe bags and other small bags which were usually hung on men's belts.

Chinese clothes were not well provided with pockets, so bags which could be suspended from a belt were useful articles of attire. In order to fulfil its primary purpose of securing things to a belt, a toggle must have what the Chinese called a 'string eye', which could pass a string or cord.

Toggle wearing disappeared from China in the 1940s, when western style clothing replaced traditional clothing.

This dress toggle was made in China between 1700-1940. In China, a great many toggles in all media are made in the form of vegetables. This marrow toggle is a good example of the melons toggle. It relates to fertility, although lacks the deeper association with medicine as the gourd does. It has the advantage of being a valuable food product, and this gives it an added connotation of abundance. The bee denotes industry and thrift.

(reference)
Morrison, Hedda and Alastair, Chinese Toggles: A little Known Folk Art., Arts of Asia, March/April 1986

Cammann, Schuyler, Chinese Belt Toggles, Oriental Art. New Series Vol.8 No. 2 Summer 1962

Cammann, Schuyler, Substance and Symbol in Chinese Toggles, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962, London, pp.114-115.

This toggle is part of a group that was collected in Peking by Hedda and Alastair Morrison between 1940 and 1942. Most of them were purchased from markets outside Chongwenmen Gate, and in Liulichang, a street known for its antique shops.

Dress accessory, toggle, vegetable marrows and leaves, stone, maker unknown, China, c. 1700-1940

Toggle made of a cylindrical section of cinnamon brown hard stone, carved in the form of vegetable marrows and leaves with a bee sitting at the base. The loops of the stem form holes for the attachment.

Made: China; 1700 - 1940

Owned: Morrison, Hedda;

Owned: Morrison, Alastair;

none

92/451

1700 - 1940

38 mm

25 mm

25 mm