Pair of plaques of a lychee-white jade decorated with magpies and a branch of flowers which may well be plum flowers. A magpie (xi que 喜 鹊) is frequently used to symbolize 'Happiness' because the first character 'xi' is the same word as 'Happy' (xi 喜). When a magpie is shown upside down just like in this case, it means 'Happiness has arrived' because the words for 'upside down' (倒) and 'arrived' (到) are both pronounced 'dao'. Two magpies facing each other symbolize 'Double Happiness' (shuang xi 喜喜). A magpie together with a branch of plum flowers gives expression to the saying 'There is a happy bird (magpie) on the tip of the plum branch' as 'Xi shang mei shao' (喜上梅稍) which sounds exactly like saying 'Xi shang mei shao' (喜上眉稍) which means 'Happiness up to one's eyebrows' or in other words 'Very happy'. The carvings were made during the Ming period (1368 - 1644) and were acquired in Hong Kong in 2008.