Japanese Hand-painted Treen Nesting Eggs Set with Butterfly, c. 1920s doodles and adhered to the back

and adhered to the back of the frame is a handwritten note translating the meaning of the central element--a series of letters

and believe he dates to the earlyish 20th century

and what a charmer

relatively humble one

Japanese Hand-painted Treen Nesting Eggs Set with Butterfly, c. 1920s doodles and adhered to the backI've had just a couple of sets of Japanese wooden nesting eggs before and, as with treen apples, also made in Japan and to which they are close kin, I always keep an eye out for them, though they are rarer than apples to find. C. 1920s I believe, with the shells of each egg progressively thinner as they get smaller; rare to find a set of these with all of the eggs in tact! (And indeed, one half of the smallest here was found taped together so I