In woodcarver Li Bing-Gui's workshop, a magnificent gilded dragon altarpiece sat waiting to be transported to the village of Kaoshong.

BBC: Here be dragons

His father, John, was a woodcarver to the third Marquis of Bute and William assisted him with carvings at Cardiff Castle.

BBC: Stolen statue

The delicate floral and cornucopia motifs carved on the crest rails of his earlier Federal period sofas and side chairs recall the work of the great woodcarver Samuel McIntyre of Salem, Mass.

WSJ: Duncan Phyfe | Furniture for a Young Nation | By Barrymore Laurence Scherer