Strange Creature! Curiously Beautiful Presumed Mid-Century Hand-Carved Modernist Animal Chinese lacquer box I've looked at a fair

I've looked at a fair amount of hair work

5 7/8" long fully extended

It measures 19 1/2" across when open

--and can almost picture its maker with their knife in hand sitting at the end of the day whittling away

There is one chip on the lip that shows the same color as the body

Strange Creature! Curiously Beautiful Presumed Mid-Century Hand-Carved Modernist Animal Chinese lacquer box I've looked at a fairA curious creature! What it is meant to be I am really not at all sure. And where it came from I'm not sure either, though I think perhaps Danish modern. An interesting mix of awkward and elegant, feeling a bit like a submarine on four legs, but somehow its proportions adding up to feel quite right and quite resolved. And I must say that this creature, a but surprisingly to me, really holds its own, complementing everything I place near it. 6 1 2" x 4