Double Monkey Belt Toggle

This toggle is different from the others we have today. While most are carved from wood, other materials like jade and amber were popular as they were light weight but beautiful. This double monkey toggle is an example of a toggle made from horn. With a silver cap and eyes, this toggle is fascinating in own way, and lovely whimsical.

Monkeys feature heavily in figurative toggles. Various Chinese religions use monkeys and apes as metaphors for people. In Chinese folk religion, some shape-shifting monkeys were said to be human ancestors. In Daoism, monkeys, particularly gibbons, were believed have longevity like a xian (immortal beings). In Chinese Buddhism, on the one hand, monkeys symbolized restless and foolish humans, and on the other hand, Gautama Buddha was supposedly a benevolent monkey king in an earlier incarnation.

H. 1 ⅞" ; L. 1 ¼": W. 1 ¼