Wonderful Antique Folk Art Reverse Glass Painting of Flowers boxing guide underneath on the base are

underneath on the base are Chinese characters

battle rattles

A sort of haunting specter of another era

as it rattles when you shake it

produced by Gerstendorfer Bros New York

Wonderful Antique Folk Art Reverse Glass Painting of Flowers boxing guide underneath on the base areI LOVE this naive reverse glass painting of flowers, which verges into the realm of total abstraction, and also, for me at least, evokes a cluster of seaweeds and corals as much as it does a floral arrangement. I know that reverse glass painting was taught to young women in the first half of the 19th century and then became widely popular as a decorative art from about 1850 to 1890; I am not certain the date on this one, but 19th century for sure. And