trinkets basket or just decorative?

dear all

at first i thought this was a malay wedding egg basket but it looks too big for one egg. the flowers are made from shells and the basket has this weird "thrown sand at it" look and feel. the flowers may have been coloured originally, bit of blue on one side. no mark.

so perhaps someone here can tell me what it is, probably a trinkets basket? i think i spotted something similar while looking for information on something else but i cannot find it anymore

regards
phaik hooi

 

For an ostrich egg?
Maybe they added a lot of flowers, like a cross between a 'bunga telor' (egg bouquet) and an egg basket. I don't know if that is ever done?
You also see them with a little nest for the egg, that could fit in there.

 

You can search "sand majolica" to see other examples of this type of effect. It probably did not have a specific use but was purely decorative. Lovely piece, most likely Continental in origin. I would guess late 1800's to early 1900's.
Don

 

I think it is a Japanese version of the German Elfinware.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ger...mdXXAhUs74MKHXt2B_gQ_AUICigB&biw=1311&bih=907

 

tq all.
found this, which has similar sandy look but no shell flower so far

 

i have no idea

 

The flowers are more likely made from tiny bits of very thin porcelain rather than shells.
Don

 

That's what I thought, but what do I know, best to leave that to our experts.

 

not shells, not expert
i really thought they were shells