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

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

a carved block on the other

It measures 19 1/2" across when open

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