Imperial Ruyi

The elegant arched hand and separately constructed terminal exquisitely inlaid with transparent colored glass past cabochons imitating precious stones, with a decoration of scattered six-petal florettes denoting prunus flowers on a ground of ruby-pink “cracked ice” pattern, the rim with a band of faceted emerald-green colored glass cabochons, the terminal inset with a Suzhou finely carved agate roundel in the center. The agate roundel is mounted and hinged, opening to reveal an English-made watch, with a white enameled dial.

During the Qianlong period, ruyi was largely seen as an auspicious emblem. The characters ruyi mean “as one desires”, and indicates the sceptre’s wish-granting purpose. It is associated with expressions such as Jixang ruyi, “May all your good fortunes be fulfilled”. Sceptres of this elegant S-shaped form were known to have been commissioned by Qing emperors either to commemorate birthdays or bestowed as birthday gifts, among other occasions. Ruyi found popularity with the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, and both have been depicted in court paintings holding sceptres of this form.

The present watch-inset ruyi with its sumptuous design is more likely to be presented to the Qing court as a gift. An almost identical example is in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

The watch insets were imported from Europe for placement in sceptres fashioned by Imperial Guangzhou workshop artisans. Guangzhou, as the hub of maritime trade between Europe and China, was well situated to produce exquisite hybrids of European and Chinese craftsmanship. According to Palace records, the Qing dynasty imported large quantities of European glass for the Imperial workshops because of its superior quality. From the quality of the paste gems of these ruyi, the glass is likely the higher quality imported glass.