Antique Japanese Wood and Papier Mache Rib Cage Section from Anatomical Model contemplative portraiut As I'm sure you are

As I'm sure you are aware by now

I am listing them as a set

and that little handful of flowers that surely he picked himself

From the ears to the bow in her hair to the stitching across the front of her dress and the way the fabric falls below it

but here and there as highlights on the textured body too

Antique Japanese Wood and Papier Mache Rib Cage Section from Anatomical Model contemplative portraiut As I'm sure you areThis beautiful sculptural curiosity is a Japanese wood and papier mache fragment half of a rib cage from what I presume was a full body model of a human skeleton. I've learned that very finely crafted wooden skeletons were first created during the Edo era in Japan (late 1700s early 1800s), when medical doctors were unable to keep human skeletons for study and teaching purposes. I would imagine this piece was made following in that tradition; I am not