An extraordinary19th Century prisoner of war bottle whimpsey.
The intricate interior scene is typically assembled piece-by-piece inside the glass container, constructed from materials like bone, wood, and thread.While often depicting religious scenes like the crucifixion (''Passion bottles''), some whimseys feature intricate dioramas of everyday life, such as miners at work or individuals winding yarn. Here are 2 women winding yarn surrounded by trees.
In this example there is a wonderful carved wood bottle top finial representing a female figure, possibly Congo? or Borneo?
Turning the finial clockwise activates the movement of the spinning wheels (a little bit hit and miss now!)
such an interesting piece, standing 25cm tall.
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA1211255
Dateline of this antique is 19th Century
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