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Ruyi scepter

Attributed to Hu Wenming Chinese

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 218

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.”

Ruyi scepter, Attributed to Hu Wenming (Chinese, active late 16th–early 17th century), Copper alloy, silver inlay, parcel gilding, China

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Ruyi scepter, Attributed to Hu Wenming (Chinese, active late 16th–early 17th century), Copper alloy, silver inlay, parcel gilding, China
Ruyi scepter, Attributed to Hu Wenming (Chinese, active late 16th–early 17th century), Copper alloy, silver inlay, parcel gilding, China
Ruyi scepter, Attributed to Hu Wenming (Chinese, active late 16th–early 17th century), Copper alloy, silver inlay, parcel gilding, China
Ruyi scepter, Attributed to Hu Wenming (Chinese, active late 16th–early 17th century), Copper alloy, silver inlay, parcel gilding, China
Ruyi scepter, Attributed to Hu Wenming (Chinese, active late 16th–early 17th century), Copper alloy, silver inlay, parcel gilding, China

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