The bottle is incised on each side with a dragon chasing a ‘flaming pearl.’
An inscription on the base reads, shunzhi san nian cheng rongzheng zhi, which translates as: made by Cheng Rongzheng in the third year of the Shunzhi reign (1644-1661), 5.5cm.
This is one of the earliest known bottles and forms part of a small group, all made of bronze, by Cheng Rongzhan between 1644 and 1654; the majority decorated with dragons.
