A Late Meiji/Early Taisho Mingei Bamboo Page Turner
May 2015 Auction by Far East Asian Art

This is an amusing bamboo page turner from Japan made in the 1920s-30s. It has an open work handle and on the lower portion there is an intaglio carving of a snake about to sneak up on a frog. What makes it interesting is that the front of the snake is on one side and the tail is on the other - thus giving a feeling of the snake burrowing through the thin bamboo.

The piece is probably a folk art piece (Mingei) as the carving is rather crude...