Art Nouveau Brass Perpetual Calendar with Handwritten Inserts leather. ) It folds back up

) It folds back up elegantly to form a rectangular box with  square sides

Carved from one piece of wood

A curious little thing good for holding other little finds

but became famous--and more complicated--when an extraordinary series of boxes with the motif were commissioned in 1760 by or for the Qianlong emperor

Art Nouveau Brass Perpetual Calendar with Handwritten Inserts leather. ) It folds back upHow much nicer to reference this sweet old perpetual calendar with lovingly hand written inserts than to check the calendar on one's phone? The brass quintessentially art nouveau frame reads Tempus Fugit (time flies) at the bottom center and sits nicely on a desk, and the hand written two sided cards accounting for every month and possibility for how the dates fall are easily removed, swapped out, and reinserted, allowing one to stay on top of things