Why are some Chinese art objects of the Qing Dynasty signed with 8
characters, instead of the usual maximum of only six?

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Clarification of Question by dennis001-ga on 22 Nov 2004 19:59 PST

Currently have a "Yongzheng" imperial porcelain 'brush washer'. The
underside has 2 additional characters inserted in the line of the
usual 6 that identify his reign. Also appearing are 5 doubly-lined
'boxes' arrayed above the foregoing 8-character line: one box contains
his 'archaic' seal, but the other 4 each hold 6 characters, with each
arrayed the same--2 characters across, 3 down. Ideally, were it not
cost-prohibitive, I'd love to have all these 'boxes' translated' by
emailing a quality digital image of the full underside to a Chinese
art historian.