The present bust, entitled Le Chinois, is an example of Carpeaux's preliminary study of 1868 for the figure of Asie, part of the Quatre Parties du Monde monument commissioned by the city of Paris for the top of the fountain at the Observatoire. The model was subsequently refined (see lot 356) and then, for the purposes of the fountain, converted to a full-length female figure and placed alongside figures representing Europe, Africa and India.