Chinese languages

Dear Forum Members,

I need some help translating the six character mark on a Chinese porcelain bowl. I can usually muddle my way through regular Chinese writing, but this style is hard for me.

Best regards,
Keith
[/img]

for me, the characters on your bowl are the seal characters (in the history of chinese writing development, there are following main kinds of characters: oracle characters-the oldest; bronze characters; seal characters; traditional characters-first appeard in the middle of qin dynasty,秦代 and finally, simplified-appeared in modern time (19 cent.) and mostly used in mandarine).

so, the simplified characters of these seal characters are like this: 奉敬武绳孙商. the meaning of each character is offer, respectful, martial art, rope, grandchidren and commerce.

for me, to translate this phrase, we have to read it from the right to the left like this: 商孙绳武敬奉(shang1 sun1 sheng2 wu3 jing4 feng4)。the first 4 characters are like a japanese name (akimago nawatakeshi). the last 2 characters mean "to worship piously" (this word is usualy used in rituals). but, you said that you bought it, so, it can be temporarily translated into "offer you with our respect".

hope you are content with my answer