This chunky hand-carved box is about as far from refined as they come, but it is very hard-trying and very endearing and I could not walk away from it. I feel fairly certain it was made as a sweetheart gift; i take the portrait in profile carved into the top as a portrait of the sweetheart in question. Circling her around the sides of the box are a reclining nude, viewed from the rear; a cheerful butterfly, a bottle (rum or whisky I'm not sure!), and quite a nicely rendered cluster of houses with a few trees, feeling like a very specific portrait of home. And what more might one need???! A sweet and earnestly effort-full feeling thing.
5 1/4" x 3 3/8" x 2 13/16" t. Good condition, 1940s or so I would guess, joined by iron nails, with the hinge operating smoothly. Warm patina showing wear in a few places, and with some bleed around the iron nails.