And now for something completely different…
What is this, why is it unusual, and what do the images on the bottle have to do with the Meadowlands?
Answer follows.
This is an antique Chinese snuff bottle, a couple of inches tall. It is unusual because all the painting was done on the inside of the bottle, through a tiny opening, with a teeny tiny brush. What does it have to the Meadowlands? The heron-like birds? Nope. Those are Phragmites fronds painted on the bottle.
Aha. Phragmites inside a Chinese bottle ….interesting
I traveled extensively in China, so I understood the “unusual” part of the question right away. Yes, the brushes the artists use are sometimes no more than a hair or two wide, and the scenes they paint can even more elaborate. Not saying yours isn’t, but they are often intentionally designed with an antique look. The red mark on the left is the artist’s “chop”, or signature.
Just guessing, but did this come from around Jinan?