'CHILONG AND BAT' RUYI SCEPTRE QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Asian Art

Ruyi Sceptres

Grace Tu

30 April 2024

Ruyi sceptres, by definition, are highly auspicious objects favoured for their shape and ornamentation which represent the propitious expression ‘as you wish’.

Their origin remains a matter of speculation, with the popular belief being that their shape evolved from back-scratchers commonly made in bamboo or bone. However, their function is likely to have derived from hu tablets which were items of authority and social rank held in the hands of officials in ancient China. This theory is supported by the mention of a ruyi sceptre being used as a tool of command in Fang Xuanling’s (579-648), Jin Shu (The Book of the Jin Dynasty), the official history of the Jin Dynasty (265-420).*

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During the Tang and Song dynasties, sceptres took on a new role as ritual implements in Buddhist and Daoist ceremonies. However, with the decline of Buddhism and a renewed interest in Confucian ideology from the Song period, sceptres became closely associated with Daoism with the head increasingly rendered in the form of the longevity lingzhi fungus. They also became highly ornamented and were designed in any shape and material that was considered suitable for use as a secular good-luck charm. By the Ming period, sceptres were often presented as gifts among the official gentry class, while under the Qing, especially from Yongzheng’s reign, they became imperial objects that were bestowed by the emperor to his worthy officers and loyal subjects as rewards. Even foreign kings and ambassadors were presented with ruyi, such as the famous jade example given to King George III and senior members of the first British embassy to China by the Qianlong emperor in 1793. Both Yongzheng and Qianlong had themselves painted holding sceptres, but the latter was particularly fond of them and owned an extensive collection, a number of which were included in the exhibition China, The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2006, cat. nos. 273-282.

LOT 180

LARGE PALE CELADON JADE 'CHILONG AND BAT' RUYI SCEPTRE

QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Ruyi sceptres of this magnificent size are rarely fashioned in jade, given the scarcity of boulders large enough to make objects of such impressive dimensions. The present sceptre is also exceptional for the fine quality of the jade which is of even tone enhanced by minor russet staining providing a naturalistic look to the stone. The high level of artistry and craftsmanship is evident in the fine quality of the carving and the decoration that has been carefully chosen for its auspicious connotations.

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The decoration of the bat and the shou character on the head of Lot 180 together is a pun for Fu Shou, meaning ‘Prosperous and Happy Life’. While all sceptres are unique and no two identical pieces are recorded, this sceptre is comparable to two Qing dynasty jade sceptres in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, both decorated on the ruyi-head with a large bat with outstretched wings embracing a stylised shou character in low relief, museum no. Gu Yu 故玉2302 and 1438.

A further comparable example with ruyi-shaped terminal carved in low-relief with five bats around a stylised shou character and dated to the Qianlong period, was in the collection of His Highness Maharaja Sir Padma Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana and gifted from Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) in 1945, then sold at Sotheby's London, 15 May 2013, lot 57. Another comparable white jade sceptre with stylised shou character roundel encircled by four beribboned bajixiang emblems, from the collection of Edward T. Chow, sold in Sotheby's London, 11th April 2008, lot 2835.

LOT 184

LARGE HARDSTONE INLAID SPINACH JADE-MOUNTED SILVER WIRE-INSET HONGMU RUYI SCEPTRE

QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY

This sceptre is inset with three spinach jade plaques, two decorated with hardstone inlaid with figures in garden settings, one further with various antiquities. The shaft of the wood is silver-inlaid with various styles of shou-longevity characters

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*For more information on the origins of sceptres, see Yuan Te-hsing’s article in Masterpieces of Chinese Ju-I Scepters in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1974, pp. 86-90.

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