Lot 119
119
A RARE BOXWOOD AND LINGZHI FUNGUS RUYI SCEPTER
A RARE BOXWOOD AND LINGZHI FUNGUS RUYI SCEPTER

17TH/18TH CENTURY

Details
A RARE BOXWOOD AND LINGZHI FUNGUS RUYI SCEPTER
17th/18th Century
The large preserved lingzhi fungus head attached to a boxwood shaft finely carved as a gnarled and age-eaten branch entwined with tendrils of prunus blossoms and carved with an inscription, Suihanyou ruyishou, signed with the artist's name, Gushan, as well as a dedicatory inscription, for Jiufengshi
22in. (55.9cm.) long

Lot Essay

The inscription, Suihanyou ruyishou, may be translated, 'A friend of the year's end, a ruyi "hand"'. The dedicatory inscription, Jiufengshi, may be translated, 'The Master of the Nine Peaks'.

Compare the boxwood ruyi scepter carved in the shape of a lingzhi illustrated by Stephen Little in the Catalogue for the exhibition, Realm of the Immortals, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 10 February - 10 April 1988, no. 24.