Molds are one of the auxiliary forming tools in Yixing purple clay pottery. This印 mold should have been made for an early "mugua guo" (木瓜过) teapot.[1] The Suzhou numerals on the left side of the signature indicate the year 1945. --- [1] Suzhou numerals: Derived from counting rods (*suanchou*) in Chinese cultural history, they represent the only counting rod system still in use today—typically employed in commercial contexts, primarily for shorthand notation.