Faux Taxidermy Birds in Chinese Glass Case - 1950s?

Hello everyone!

I'm new to this forum but collect vintage clothes as well as other antiquities. I was wondering if anyone can help me learn anything about this glass display case I have. It has plastic flowers in it with two little artificial birds and hand painted chinese text/birds on the interior glass backing. There is a door on the back and a bulb inside so that the box could be lit up. I have a pair of these which are almost identical, the only difference being that the birds in the other set are red with different coloured plastic flowers.

In my opinion it is quite crudely made so I'm wondering if it could be be a souvenir type thing that tourists would have bought whilst travelling in China? Something about it makes me think 50s but I'm not sure. The other one still has the plug attached and it's an old two pin style plug, outdated. Have had these for several years but can't find anything similar on the internet.

Any knowledge is much appreciated, thank you!

 

Hello Rayfriend, welcome to the forum.

These are usually called Chinese shadowboxes. Are you sure the flowers are plastic? They could be dyed cork carvings. Most shadowboxes have cork or shell carvings in them, sometimes with minute detail, sometimes rather crudely made.

 

Thank you Any Jewelry for the reply! I did consider that they're shadow boxes, but actually they're very different in many ways. I've taken more pictures today and will attach them on here. The birds look like they're a mixture of felt and real feathers. The artificial plants and flowers are certainly plastic - the kind you get in a fish tank! The birds are perched on real bark - it is different in the two pieces so you can see it's organic. The inside of the box has a fabric decorative cord going around the edge too. There's a light fitting on the inside and as you can see one of the boxes still has the original plug attached. I've put my hand in the photo for scale so you can get a sense of how big they are. 22.5 inches/ 57cm long - they're pretty big.

Chinese birds glass display by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

Chinese birds glass display by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

Chinese birds glass display by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

Chinese birds glass display by Rachel Brown, on Flickr

Chinese birds glass display by Rachel Brown, on Flickr