A jade-mounted wood ruyi scepter with polychrome inlay, 19th century. Photo Bonhams

The large scepter head mounted with a thick greenish-white nephrite plaque depicting a boy on a caparisoned elephant surrounded by a dragons and a bat in low relief, the curving dark wood handle inscribed ji xiang ru yi in cut bone set amid the Eight Buddhist Emblems inlaid in tinted bone and colored stones above the pale gray-green nephrite terminal of cloud-collar shape carved in relief with a fu-lion (old repairs, cracks, surface weathering). 18 3/4in (47.5cm) long. Sold for US$ 40,000 (€29,231)

Bonhams. ASIAN DECORATIVE ARTS. San Francisco. 18 Dec 2013 - www.bonhams.com