A getter and Setter would be necessary for it I forgot to mention and I am sorry the filter example was wrong:

Map<String, Criteron> filters = new HashMap<String, Criterion>();
filters.put("foo.bar.name", Restrictions.like("name", "peter"));
filters.put("foo.test.id", Restrictions.eq("id", 2));
filters.put("bar.value", Restrictions.ne("value", "xy"));

If a Getter and Setter are provided this could be reduced to:

Set<Criterion> filters = new HashSet<Criterion>();
filters.add(Restrictions.like("foo.bar.name", "peter"));
filters.add(Restrictions.eq("foo.test.id", 2));
filters.add(Restrictions.ne("bar.value", "xy"));

Then the tree could be created and the setter could be called on the Restrictions just including the lowest child property.
(Or if its the identifier property the parent can also be included without creating subcriteria "test.id" is a valid criteria if id is identifier property.)