A CARVED BOXWOOD RUYI SCEPTRE

QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

LENGTH: 32CM

The sceptre is decorated with dense foliage wrapped around the handle, emanating budding finger citrus fruit as it meanders up the branch, issuing two fully ripened down-turned finger citrons which form the ruyi head. The larger finger citron is inlaid in mother-of-pearl and bone with a ruyi and a ribbon-tied ‘wan’ symbol framing two persimmon, completing the pun ‘wanshi ruyi ’ 萬事如意 (‘May ten thousand things be as you wish’). The wood surface has acquired a rich golden brown patina.

SIMILAR EXAMPLE
A boxwood ruyi with interlaced foliate decoration from the collection of the National Palace Museum is illustrated in Treasures from the Scholar’s Studio, Kyoto, 1992, p. 189, Catalogue No. 177.

PROVENANCE
A Private Collection, Kansai, Japan

清中期黃楊木佛手如意