Dear Ian,
These are whisk shapers for tea whisks (the bamboo thing on the right is one such whisk, I put it there for "reference"). The items are small: the one in the foreground is about 65 mm dia., the one in the background is about 40 mm dia. The material is beech for the larger and cherry for the smaller one. They have been finished with Oriental lacquer.
Have a nice day,
János