Scottish-born Australian painter Ian Fairweather spent some time in Melbourne, Australia and was associated with the Melbourne Contemporary Group established by William Frater, George Bell, Arnold Shore and others in 1934. He was commissioned to paint a mural for the Menzies Hotel there but destroyed it when it received unfavourable reviews and left the county. He had learnt Chinese as a young man and returned to China and the Philippines before having a solo show at The Redfern Gallery, London in 1935 from whom this picture was later acquired by the Hon. Jasper Ridley (1887-1951) for the Contemporary Art Society and presented to the Ulster Museum Belfast.