I designed and carved the original and cast the small piece in lead-free pewter. There is, as far as I can tell, no patron saint of retirement, but Lao Tzu, it seems to me, is a very interesting example both of an enlightening attitude to retiring and of how to live after retiring. The statue, which comes boxed, has a "scroll container" on the back. The scroll that comes with the piece reads: "After years in the demanding job of royal archivist, the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu (6th century BC) retired. He left the city, the pressure. At the �Western gates,� a guard stopped Lao-Tzu, realized his wisdom, and asked him to write it down. Lao-Tzu sat under a tree and wrote the Tao-Te-Ching, a classic of spiritual wisdom. Thus what he did after retiring was more significant than what he�d done in his working life. This was because in �retiring,� he�d left a life in which outside influences often dictated his activities and thoughts and entered one in which he could explore, with leisure, what was important to him. Like Montaigne, in retiring he determined to live in �freedom, tranquility, and leisure.� This piece was handmade at In the Co. of Saints. On the front, Lao-Tzu climbs towards his retirement, leaving stress behind. On the back, he writes his classic. Below him are words from the Tao-Te-Ching: �Do the work and let it go.� Dimensions: 2 5/8 inches high x 2 inches wide