Asian Chop, Seal, and Signature Resource

The gallery below represents the sum total of my Signature and chop database. There are nearly 800 artist marks here, including the lions share of Antique Chinese and Tokoname kilns.

I hope this is useful for all you Bonsai enthusiasts and pottery collectors. I have enjoyed identifying others’ pots on the forums, Facebook, and by email, but its best if we can all do it ourselves.
Many thanks to my friend and fellow pottery expert Francisco Javier Gutierrez, who provided me with many marks I didn’t have and some I’d never seen before.
Note that Chinese kilns are identified with their Japanese pronunciations, they are pronounced entirely differently in Chinese. Chinese kilns, when I know, are identified by age, as so:
Kowatari: Old Crossing, Pre-1800
Nakawatari: Middle Crossing, 1800-1911
Shinwatari:New Crossing, 1911-1940
By decade: given
Contemporary: within the last 35 years
Taisho era(Japanese): 1912-1926

Reading Artist marks: this order of operations always holds true as long as the mark is in the same form(I.e. Vertical 2 character marks are read top to bottom, Horizontal 3 character box stamps right to left, horizontal 2 character non box stamps left to right, ect.)

Feel free to email me at Gastrognome at aol dot com about any inaccuracies or other chops you have that should be added, or if you just can’t seem to find your mark. Up to 3 IDs via email are gratis, and the fee for more is nominal.