Wonderful Carved Vertebrae Head with Hat painting with tree England" on the backside of

England" on the backside of the lid

I'd guess they are likely German and date to the 1930s or so

not much to the red and black

A great little seascape

are typically used for painting on porcelain

Wonderful Carved Vertebrae Head with Hat painting with tree England" on the backside ofThere is a strong Inuit tradition of carving human and owl faces from whale vertebrae, and also a 19th century tradition of carving and painting vertebrae to resemble John Wesley (1703 1791), the British religious leader and founder of Methodism. This carving though carved from the vertebrae of what type of animal I am not sure does not seem an easy fit for either category, and seems to be just its own very special thing! And quite a character he is,