Antique Japanese Wood and Papier Mache Rib Cage Section from Anatomical Model blow toy achieved especially well in profile

achieved especially well in profile (hard not to recognize that jawline

revealing guts comprised of little scraps of all sorts of bright colored fabrics and threads

produced by Mann

the carving on this is really quite stunning

Antique Japanese Wood and Papier Mache Rib Cage Section from Anatomical Model blow toy achieved especially well in profileThis 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