A finely carved "Lychee" Jade cup Ming Dynasty, 16th Century

naturalistically carved as a large lychee with a leafy gnarled stem that curls up and around the fruit with a further smaller lychee attached, the well-hollowed stone of pale celadon tone with caramel inclusions

Lychees are symbols emblematic of fertility and numerous progeny.

Compare with a later 18th century example, illustrated in S. Marchant & Son, 75th Anniversary of Post-Archaic Chinese Jades from Private Collections, London, 2000, fig. 38.