A BOXWOOD RUYI SCEPTER QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY

naturalistically carved in the form of a gnarled and knotted branch of lingzhi with the largest fungus forming the head of the scepter and five further smaller fungi in high relief along the handle, the reverse inscribed towards the top zhi jian yue du, 'Be persistent like a mountain', the mid-section with ming yue you qing zhi wo lao, huanghua wu zhu wei shei kai, 'The moon has feelings and knows my age, the yellow flower has no master, for whom does it open?', and signed at the base, Qingshan zhu ren, 'master of the green mountain'