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The shared wisdom on this forum is most appreciated. Would like to know the meaning of the mark on the bottom of the gourd snuff bottle. Thank you.

I'm unsure of what inspired its description of being gourd-like, but the seal script base-mark, shown rotated almost 90-degrees right of proper reading position, reads "Made during the Guangxu reign (Guangxu Nian Zhi - 光緒年製). The Guangxu Emperor was on the throne from 1875-1908, but unfortunately, the piece is a modern resin casting, as evidenced by burst bubble traces on the foot rim and perhaps also in the mark itself. The cap also seems to have a similar problem, as shown in the last picture.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Thank you for your shared wisdom and information. It is most appreciated! The bottle was one of three acquired from the same collection. I wish one could post more than 3 images per posting. All three are molded gourd vessels. Pictures sometimes are hard to tell, but all three are extremely light and the other two snuff bottles show the distinct hole on bottom characteristic of gourd vessels. The tops are all bone. Any idea of what this second mark says? See new pictures. Thank you everyone !!

The mark is a little indistinct, but reads GuangXu NianZhi 光緒年製。 Made in the reign of the GuangXu emperor - 1875-1908.

But I'm not sure that this is factual. Others will have an opinion.

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