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First, great appreciation for I. Nagy who has shared wisdom and knowledge interpreting the most challenging Chinese scripts. This interesting jade snuff bottle has images of the zodiac with corresponding Chinese characters, presumably the name of the animal. The other side is covered with characters and script. Any idea of what the writing conveys? Thanks for any help.

Dear China Doll,
Under the images of the 12 zodiac animals their corresponding Chinese characters are written, and above them you can see the corresponding Eight Trigrams (Bagua 八卦), each consisting three lines, each line either broken or unbroken, respectively representing yin and yang.

Reading and translation of the other side,
山鬼　
雷霆殺鬼降精
斬妖辟邪永保
清奉太上老君
急々如律令敇
雷局
(To)Mountain Devils !
Thunderbolt kills ghosts, drops evil spirits
cuts off demons, cleans wizards for ever,
and protects the most exalted Lord Lao*
like a legal imperial order
Office of Thunder

* Lord Lao is a Taoist deity, identified with Laozi (老子）

With regards,
I.Nagy

Your knowledge and wisdom are amazing. Your help is most appreciated. Wishing you, I. Nagy, the very best !!

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