Chinese Carved Agate of a Boy-child
December 2012 Auction by Far East Asian Art

A common gift to a Chinese bride as a prayer for sons was representations of boy-children in many materials. (I have never seen one of a girl, but my mother, who always wanted a girl and only produced four sons over a twenty-year period, would have owned a collection!) This fine little fellow, with the Peach of Prosperity in his right hand and a rattle lifted in his other, is carved from softly glowing clam-broth agate, the face and peach bearing a somewhat whiter luster...