Rather than bearing an Imperial reign mark, the present bottle and others of its group are the first to identify the Imperial kilns with the reference 'official kilns'. It has been suggested that this mark was probably used at the Imperial kilns when the Taiping rebels were in control of the kilns at Jingdezhen and the surrounding area, raising considerable problems of protocol in marking porcelains.

For other very similar bottles, see the one sold in our London Rooms, 9 October 1974, lot 38, also illustrated in JICSBS, June 1977, p. 13, no. 29; one illustrated in Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 6, C35; and another sold by Sotheby's London, 6 May 1986, lot 357. All bear the same mark and may have been made using the same mould. There are also three carved versions known: the first covered with a yellow enamel was sold by Sotheby's London, 3 February 1981, lot 42; and the second, signed Rongjing zuo ('Made by Rongjing'), has been in the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1883, and is illustrated by Helen White, Snuff Bottles from China. The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, p. 243, no. 1; and the third, almost identical in design to the present lot, with a Liquan zi zhi mark, is illustrated by Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles. The White Wings Collection, no. 81.