Very rare 17/18th Century northern Thai crystal (?) reliquary turtle or tortoise. The closest related examples I have seen have been carved in clear quartz crystal or in a special glass which contains precious metals. I had thought this was fluorite, but one person knowledgeable in minerals who examined it believed it was too heavy to be this. The color and refractive qualities are quite unusual- unlike any other SE Asian piece I have seen. It likely contained precious relics, and had either a gold cap (long taken and melted) or a cover made of the same material as the figure. There is one area in the north central part of Thailand where a good number of animal and stupa crystal reliquaries were excavated by locals in the 1960s in a valley filled with temples that was going to be flooded to build a dam, though none of the others had the personality of this one. Most of the others I've seen were dated to 16-19th Century, so I am dating this one to that same time frame as well. I've owned it 25 years and have been searching for a close match. So far it is unique. 4.25 inches long, 3 inches tall on custom base. Quite heavy for its size.