A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia, signifying sovereign authority.
Relief carving of Darius the Great of Persia on his throne, holding a sceptre and lotus
The Code of Hammurabi stela depicts the god Shamash holding a staff.
Statue of Jupiter in the Hermitage, holding the sceptre and orb.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi installing the Sengol sceptre in the new Indian Parliament
A staff of office is a staff, the carrying of which often denotes an official's position, a social rank or a degree of social prestige.
Orthodox protodeacon holding a walking stick. Portrait by Ilya Repin, 1877 (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow).
A beadle, carrying his staff; behind him two churchwardens (coloured aquatint, 1805).
Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (d. 1757), carrying the thin white staff of the Lord Chamberlain
A Gold Staff Officer (Lt-Col. Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah) marshalling the Coronation Procession in 2023.