A jadeite-inlaid and champlevé-enameled gilt-silver filigree ruyi scepter, Qing dynasty, Guangxu period | 清光緒 銀鎏金鏤空纍絲鑲翠玉如意

Collection of Edward Choate O'Dell (1901-1982), acquired in Baltimore in the mid-1950s.

Edward Choate O'Dell (1901-1982) 收藏，得於巴爾的摩，1950年代中

Magnificently executed in intricate filigree work, the present piece stands as testimony to the brilliant heights achieved by the craftsmen at the Qing Imperial Court. Woven into a network of interlocking circular chains, the wires shape the form of the ruyi while delicately fashioned butterflies and shou characters surround the jadeite plaques. The plaques depict blooming florals or a mythical beast, and between them champlevé enamels of auspicious Daoist symbols grace the shaft. 

Closely related jadeite-inlaid ruyi scepters can be seen in important museum and private collections. See two in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Auspicious Ju-i Scepters of China, Taipei, 1995, pls 47-48; another closely-related ruyi, formerly in the Elizabeth W. Coles and Francis Ralston Welsh collections, was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 1892 to 1917, before being donated to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in the 1950s. It is currently on loan to the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama.