Lacquer Box with Fantastical Creature Handmade in Kashmir, India art pottery vase or dinner party table

or dinner party table

like new condition

with glazes --one a painterly brown and dark indigo

With great lines and a gold rim too

It was purchased from the estate sale of a multi-generational family of artists near Boston

Lacquer Box with Fantastical Creature Handmade in Kashmir, India art pottery vase or dinner party tableWho 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.