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. The cicada is associated with longevity in China due to its nature and habits. The men of Shang cast symbolic figures of the cicada on the ritual bronzes which they created as offerings to the dead and later Chinese placed its image, carved in stone on the tongues of corpses as a passport to immortality.

(reference)
Cammann, Schuyler, Substance and Symbol in Chinese Toggles, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962, London, pp.131-132

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, cicada, agate, maker unknown, China, c. 1700-1940

Toggle made of pale, translucent milky yellow agate relief carving into the form of a cicada, the natural black markings of the stone form the black eyes. There is a small drilled hole through the upper mid-back for attachment.

Made: China; 1700 - 1940

Owned: Morrison, Hedda;

Owned: Morrison, Alastair;

none

92/461

1700 - 1940

12 mm

65 mm

52 mm