18th century|Of slightly compressed cylindrical section supported by three simply-rendered feet, the sides incised in several layers to create an illusion of depth and to depict four figures and three horses within a grove of gnarled pine waiting upon three more figures within a thatched cottage sheltered between a small thicket of bamboo and a diagonal rocky cliff. |6 1/8in (15.5cm) high|Provenancepurchased in Japan during the 1950s thereupon to the current owner by descentThe subject matter depicted is possibly the 'San Gu Mao Lu' episode from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In presumably his third visit to thatched cottage, Liu Bei here has just barely built up the courage to ask a visibly unimpressed Zhuge Liang for help waging war for the Shu Han, while Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and attendants can only wait nervously outside.