" Come here,’ said Grandmother Jia with a twinkle in her eye. ‘Come and have a look at something.’ Bao-yu walked over to the couch where she was lying, and Grandmother Jia handed him the jade thumb-ring. He took it in his hands and inspected it. It was about three inches in circumference, slightly elliptical in shape like an elongated melon, of a reddish hue. It was a very beautiful piece of workmanship. Bao-yu was most taken with it and enthused at some length. "

― Cao Xueqin , The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 5: The Dreamer Wakes