Opinion please on two interesting bottles

[Boletus]

Hello everyone,

could you be so kind to let me have your thoughts on these two inside painted snuff bottles?
I like the anthropomorphic approach to the one depicting a goat, and the calligraphy on both seems to have quality but unfortunately that's pretty much all I can say.
Any idea of who the artist is or, possibly, what the writings are about?
Thanks in advance, cheers
Frank

[George]

Hi Frank..

Both were painted about 1950/1980 give or take some... I like the calligraphy, but I can not make out the artists..

[Boletus]

Hi George,

thanks for that, much appreciated.
Actually both bottles have calligraphy on the reverse, with one bearing a goat and the other a rabbit on the front.
Cheers
Frank

[Pat - 查尚杰]

Hi Frank,

They appear to be man-made crystal, which would date them late 60s/70s earliest, which is also the first time this shape appears again, after not being used since 1910s.  I have two wheel cut antique rock crystal bottles of this shape... 

[Fiveroosters aka clayandbrush]

Dear Pat,
so there are early 20th century bottles with this shape? In my ignorance about IP bottles, I was convinced that this shape was a sure sign for recent bottles, let say not older than 1970 as you said. Interesting to know that, thank you.
I found the the inscriptions quite well done; just a feeling, I am not expert on calligraphy.
Giovanni

[AntPeople]

These 2 bottles are part of a set of 12 bottles that represent the Chinese zodiac sign.... one side of the bottle is the animal and the other side is the description of a person  that has that zodiac sign

Pin

[Boletus]

Dear Pat, Giovanni and Pin,

thank you for your comments and input.
Good to know the possible date and the fact that they are part of the Chinese Zodiac as per subject. I gather from comments that these two examples don't seem to be of any particular quality or come from any specific artist of note.

Best to all and thanks again
Frank

[Rube]

Frank,

Is it me, or does that goat look a little demonic?!?

Cheers,

Rube.

[Wattana]

Is it me, or does that goat look a little demonic?!?

Hi Rube,

It's not just you. I had exactly the same sensation when I saw it! Sent a shiver down my back.

Tom

[Peter Bentley 彭达理]

Hi Rube,

I agree   with Pin

They  are  2  of a  set of  12  bottles.

Roughly  1970-1980   tourist  grade  bottles, originally  sold as a set

Not sure  if one can say anything about the  material  (glass  or man-made crystal)  but the  bottle  shape  is definitely  "old" by  which I mean  pre - 1980

The  painting  quality  is  really poor,   but the  calligraphy  is  uniform  although  rather  scrappily (carelessly)  written

Definitely  NOT  by a  master  artist :  more like a  student  artist  trying to  make ends  meet (there  were  no factory  produced  bottles  at that  time, as far as I know)

That's my best  take

Cheers

Peter

[Boletus]

Dear Peter,
thanks for your precious information.
I will keep that in mind when I'll look at other inside-painted snuff bottles.
Luckily, after learning of the consensus on the forum, I have passed on those two.

Dear Rube,
yes you're right and it's not just you.
I pretty much thought the same when I saw the goat's "face"!
And that's actually what got me interested in it...!
Cheers
Frank

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

SH*T! That would scare me, late at night...
Joey