My best guess is that maybe it was/is (it's certainly festive , anyways) a holiday/giftbox , for food-related goodies .
Pudding , cheese , bucketbread , fruitcake & etc .
The little metal(?) thing-a-ma-bob on the lid sorta looked like a pine tree to me too , when first seen .
As far as it's age , well that's another guessing game to me ... you can look @ the staples , connectors & toolmarks that you can see , to start to get some idea of it's age .
I do know that some folk-art items , often ones from maritime regions , will have (paint) lead , cadmium , cobalt & other such dandies in them , so they're not always good for use with foodstuffs or as toys .
I'm pretty sure there are still items like yours being hand-painted by folks , sugarcube5419 !
