Carved Little Wooden Owl Toggle (Natsuke?) very old flask Ranavalo (former Queen of Madagascar)

Ranavalo (former Queen of Madagascar)

with copper and pink surface decoration on its interior over a reactive creamy glaze

images of animals

the equivalent to "foo dogs" in Chinese culture) repeating around the perimeter of both top and bottom halves of the box

and would guess it dates to the 1930s or 40s

Carved Little Wooden Owl Toggle (Natsuke?) very old flask Ranavalo (former Queen of Madagascar)Such a sweet and curious little owl! The little branch on which it stands is hollow inside, which makes me think it might be a Japanese Natsuke (an ornamental togglelike piece used to attach a box, pipe, or pouch to the obi sash of a kimono), which, though most commonly carved of ivory, are also found carved of wood. It certainly seems it was created to serve a toggle like function, but now, if balanced right, it will stand up in its own. It feels as