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Hi , this bottle is sadly now in pieces. I would however be interested to know if anyone can tell me what the oval seal means . I'm also not sure what the brown lump between the rock and the vase on the reverse side is , any ideas?. Would anyone be able to recommend the best type of glue to use as I'd like to try and mend it.Thank you

The fuzz factor for the image of the seal on your snuff bottle strays into my ocular discomfort zone, but I will hazard a guess that its two characters may read down as 'Wenzhang' (文章), meaning 'Writings' or 'Literary Works'. If not 'Wenzheng', them possibly 'Lizhang'(立章), 'To formulate rules'.

Best regards.

Bill H.

Thanks Bill , much appreciated. I can't seem to get a better photo so have attempted a drawing , which may or may not help. Would the seal be a signature or a description do you think?

It's a date seal. The top part means the eleventh lunar month. The bottom, which looks to have lost something in the translation, appears to be a Goat year: cycling every 12 years from the dark past...1859, 1871, 1883, 1895, 1907...up to present day.

Your snuff bottle doesn't appear "normal" to me. I am used to a base glass bottle over which one or more layers of colored glass are applied. This compilation is then carved exposing the colors at various levels. On yours the colors appear applied locally rather than in layers covering the whole bottle. They don't looked carved. The workmanship doesn't look that good.

Below is a picture of some of the glass snuff bottles in our collection that I took some time ago.

Cheers,
Stan

If I am correct that it is a (Japanese) date seal, it means your snuff bottle is a modern Japanese imitation. I'm a little slow on the uptake tonight, but that would explain the odd construction I mentioned earlier.

Cheers,
Stan

Thanks Stan
You're absolutely right about the making of the bottle , the colours were applied in patches and carved back. I know what you mean about the work not appearing to be that well done , the design looks a bit disjointed. To me it looks like others I 've seen on the web described as Yangzhou school 18th/19th century rather than anything more modern. Your bottles are beautiful, great colours thanks for sharing .

I finally unearthed an old auction catalog from my unkempt files and located another five-color glass overlay snuff bottle with what I'm now satisfied is the identical mark, that being 'Jixiang' (吉祥), 'Good Luck', which in some of its seal script forms drops the radical from the 'Xiang' character. I've cropped the catalog picture to show the seal compared with an enhanced enlargement of the mark on Sally's snuff bottle. Hopefully the likeness can be seen.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Fantastic , an exact match , thank you so much Bill.

Here's an even clearer image of the 'Jixiang' mark carved onto another color overlay snuff bottle. This kind of glass carving is called 'Yangzhou School', after Yangzhou, in Jiangsu Province.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thanks for the assist Bill. Your research skills exceed mine. This is also what happens when I collect Japanese woodblock prints. I see everything through that lens.

Cheers,
Stan

perhaps it could be a dedication, I've read somewhere that these bottles were frequently given as gifts, sometimes for passing exams .

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