Lacquer Box with Fantastical Creature Handmade in Kashmir, India art pottery vase a large bird

a large bird

With great lines and a gold rim too

but stays on the bottle fine

broken remnants of artifacts and scraps of ancient textiles often litter the burial grounds today

or European Art Pottery

Lacquer Box with Fantastical Creature Handmade in Kashmir, India art pottery vase a large birdWho is this marvelous fantastical beast that lives on the top of this vintage lacquer box? He looks a bit like a dog with antlers and a head dress, but his face seems positively human, and he has what looks rather like a tiny hand and wrist for a nose! Whatever he is, he's about the best creature I've seen, and is set off perfectly against a bold yellow ground, with additional colorful abstract forms, again rather mysterious, on all sides of the box.