Silver pendant shaped as a baby Boy holding a Lotus flower in one hand and his little ‘willy’, which pops out, in the other. This small pendant was most probably a wedding gift. A boy carrying a Lotus is a pun ‘May you continuously give birth to Distinguished sons’ (liansheng guizi). The boy implies the wish for a son and the lotus (lian) also means Continuous (lian). One of his feet is gone but that does not make any difference to the delightfulness of this small figure. In Chinese culture the absence of sons was a disaster. Wearing a small charm in the shape of a baby boy was supposed to ensure the arrival of a son. This lovely but unmarked figure dates from the late Qing period (1644 – 1912). Length 4.4 cm. Width 2.2 cm. Depth 1.3 cm.