A Chinese legend: Liu Hai fished a three-legged toad out of a well, using a string of coins as his line. A Qing-dynasty plaque at the Met shows the story. In folk tradition, the pair became a sign of wealth.
Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a round Qing-dynasty plaque that shows the legend: Liu Hai lowers a string of copper coins into a well and draws up a three-legged toad. It is the earliest image of the story in our files.
To verify: The plaque’s material, date and accession details on the Met page
In Chinese folk tradition, Liu Hai, his toad and his string of copper coins became a sign of wealth. The toad is the odd one out in the picture: it has three legs, not four.
To verify: When the pair first appears as a sign of wealth
Shops today sell the three-legged toad on its own as a ‘wealth toad’, in bronze, jade or pyrite. That sales talk is modern. The older picture is a story of a string of coins and a well, and we make no claim about money.
