Featured Wondering about a Chinese Trinket Box

My guess is a Chinese opium, snuff, or pill box, but I'm not sure why there is a mirror in one side. Perhaps they doubled as compacts? I'm also wondering what the scene is all about. Does she have some kind of a bamboo whip with bone fragments for clonking dinner? It doesn't look like a gig.

Incidentally, it had what looked like a piece of masking tape inside with "Hong Kong" written on it, along with a European name (I assume the buyer) and a date from the 50s. Wish I had kept it.

Besides my other questions, I'm wondering if y'all think it was made in the 50s, or was floating around from the late 1800s or early 19's for a while before finding its way to market.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

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It is a cute handpainted trinket box for a lady's dressing table, hence the mirror. The toad in the scene is the three-legged toad, for good fortune.
Could be 1960s, but maybe @clutteredcloset49 knows more about the approx date.

Chinese take snuff from snuff bottles, not boxes. Examples can be seen in this thread:
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/chinese-snuff-bottles-cameo-carved-and.23777/

 

Morning -
We were importing from Hong Kong in the 1960s and after.
The face on the girl looks more modern.
Mirror inside might point to a cosmetic use. Rouge, lip color or even solid perfume.

I see some verdigris inside the bottom. Maybe @Any Jewelry remembers what was recommended to clean. Was it ketchup?
Don't put any other metals near verdigris as it spreads.

 

Ketchup works, but if the silvertone metal is some kind of plating (non-precious) it could eat away at the top layer and leave a nasty bare spot.
I would give it a wipe of olive oil, leave it for a while, and polish the metal. That often does the trick.

 

That reminds me: to get stubborn tag glue off from second-hand shops, I sometimes use essential oils. Probably murder on finishes. What do you suggest I use?

 

I thought patina of this nature is sought by many collectors?

 

In this case you can try alcohol.

Cluttered means the green stuff, that is verdigris which will eat its way through the metal. It is like rust on iron.
Patina is different, it is a gentle, natural aging process.

 

Hi,
Try heating the labels with a hair dryer. They peel right off and no mess.
greg

 

Exactly.