Ruyi scepter

This scepter is an accoutrement commonly used by a learned gentleman. Designed with a cloud-shaped head, such scepters are known as ruyi, literally “as [you] wish,” and are talismanic objects meant to bring good fortune. This secepter’s handle is engraved with a twelve-character inscription inlaid with silver wire that has a Zen-like connotation: “My mind is flourishing, my mind is pure; my mind is utterly free of intention and self-consciousness.” The back of the handle is incised with the artist’s rectangular mark “Made by Hu Wenming of Yunjian.”