a cutout keeshond

courtesy Rijksmuseum, PD CC0 1.0
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.503182

This is a knipselwerk, or paper cutout, of a keeshond dog, complete with sharp perky ears and that distinctive ruff.  If you hear "keeshond" and think "Dutch?" you're right, and it dates from 1787.  Most cutout work I have seen is done as silhouette, which was a popular art form in Europe and Britain as a whole at that time.  This one is full of surface texture and personality, almost like a paper toy.  What tiny razor-sharp scissors those must have been.