From head to toe

Weaving down past the flower pattern that decorates the ruyi, there is a small decorative knot hanging from the object. The ruyi itself is already an auspicious object, but in the Qing dynasty the auspiciousness was enhanced by adding knots.

Like ruyi’s, the history of knotting in China covers many centuries. It was in the Qing dynasty that knotting became more popular and broke free from its folklore status. Knots also became widely used to decorate everyday objects like wallets, fan tassels, queues, hats, and ruyi.

The knotting on this particular ruyi is rather simple, but its value lies mainly in what it resembles. The yellow color may, for instance, represent the emperor, since yellow is associated with the ruler in China, but what is certain is that the main use of the knotting on the object was to grace the ruyi.[Cf. Chen 2018, p.14]

The object certainly had good luck. Having been given to the Macartney embassy, it made its way safely back to the United Kingdom and eventually ended up in the collection of the Royal Collection Trust. Now it is part of the vast collection of objects from China that the British royalty possesses.

The relations between China and the United Kingdom did not have an outcome as auspicious as the ruyi. Lord Macartney did not perform the kowtow, i.e. the ceremonial three bows, before the Chinese emperor and the embassy did not achieve its goal of opening up trade.