Condition: Good condition with some wear, minor signs of weathering and erosion.Provenance:?Collection of Robert and Isabelle de Strycker, and thence by descent in the same family. Robert de Strycker (1903-1968) was a French engineer who specialized in metallurgy. He was a Stanford graduate, a professor at the University of Leuven, a director of the Institute of Metallurgy at the Universit?? Catholique de Louvain, and one of the most influential members of the faculty of applied sciences. After World War II, he made large contributions to France??s post-war recovery. Robert and his wife Isabelle (1915-2010) first encountered Chinese art at the British Museum during a stay in London in the 1930s. Enamored with the style and beauty, they both decided to study and collect Chinese works of art. In 1938, they eventually began to build their collection, buying from Belgian, Parisian, and English dealers. They kept close contact with the famous English collector Sir Harry Garner (1891-1977) and noted Czech collector and expert Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976).H: 11.8 in. (30 cm) L: 7.2 in. (18.5 cm) D: 5.9 in. (15 cm)