Carved from high quality white jade, the paperweight is dotted with brown spots and comes in the original wood base. The piece is made up of three lychee plants with luxurious foliage and full, rounded fruit. A magpie stands upon the branches. The paperweight is often held in the hand as a plaything. It is an original and unconventionally graceful piece and the design of the magpies with three lychee is a traditional auspicious design, the xibao sanyuan. The sanyuan means “three yuan”, which refers to the jieyuan, huiyuan, and zhuangyuan. Therefore, xibao sanyuan is the perfect picture of success in which a person has obtained first place in the county, capital and country exams.

L: 4.6 cm