Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait vintage 1950s and don't know whether that

and don't know whether that is correct or not

great sign

which I might guess dates to the earlyish 19th century

This little lion is definitely owning the space in which she lounges

Antique Handmade Book Box with Interior Portrait vintage 1950s and don't know whether thatI rarely meet a book shaped thing I don't like, and this feels like something of an example of not judging a book by its cover! I'm thinking there may once have been a picture of some sort adhered to the outside cover, which shows a bare spot surrounded by red paint now and perhaps that picture functioned as a sort of counterpart to the portrait print of woman in large plumed hat inside; my guess is that it turned this book box into a c. 1800 French