Signed Shiman, cyclically dated to Wuwu year, corresponding to 1918 and of the period |The square seal carved to the face with four seal script characters reading 'Chen Liu Zhi yin', incised to one side with further five lines of seal script characters, surmounted by a finial in the form of a recumbent horse with bent forelegs, detailed with manes and a swaying tail. |4.2cm (1 5/8in) high.|戊午年（1918年） 田黃石馬鈕「陳瀏之印」章「法吳天璽紀功碣戌午夏五月師曼刻」篆書刻款Provenance: an English private collection來源： 英國私人收藏The incised inscription to the side reads Fa Wutianxi Jigong Jie Wuwu Xia Wuyue Xizan Ke 法吳天璽紀功碣戌午夏五月師曼刻, which may be translated as 'carved by Shiman in the style of Wu Tianxi Jigong, in the fifth month of Maowu year during summer'. Shiman 師曼 appears to be one of the courtesy names used by Tan Xizan 譚錫瓚 (b.1867), a seal carver from Hunan Province, active from the late Qing dynasty to the early Republic period. The characters carved on the seal face of the present lot suggest the seal was once in the possession of Chen Liu 陳瀏 (1863-1929), also known by his studio name as Jiyuanshou 寂園叟. Chen Liu was a renowned ceramics connoisseur active from the late Qing dynasty to the early Republic period, and known to have compiled Tao Ya (匋雅), an early survey dedicated to the study of Chinese ceramics published in 1906.