Lapis lazuli mountain, China, 18th/19th century, carved in relief with a coastal village scene, figures, trees and houses, decorated with a Chinese poem inscribed in gilt on the reverse, with a custom wood base carved with waves, 8 1/4" h x 17" w. Provenance: This item belonged to Zhang Guohe, born January 1922. A former Colonel of Chiang Kai-shek’s army, he attended the Japanese surrender in Hunan Zhejiang, in August 1945. After completing a law degree at the University of Chicago, he joined the United Nations in 1949, where he rose to the position of Chief of Examinations and Training in the Personnel Office. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Zhang would regularly return to visit China. While on one of his trips he met with Soong Qing Ling, the wife of Sun Yat Sen, on July 29th of 1979. Mr. Zhang passed away in early 2013 surrounded by his family in Boston, Massachusetts.