I made the sketch for Mei Hua several years ago, but my skill at marquetry was not yet at a point where I could produce a piece with that level of complexity. I came back to it a few years later, with a lot more capability in my technique, and it has turned out wonderfully.
As you can see, this portrait is framed. During the art process, it was originally rectangular. I spent a long time searching for the right frame. When I finally found it, I trimmed it to fit the piece. Painters start with fixed canvas dimensions, but one of the unique aspects to working with marquetry is that I have flexibility on the final size of the piece.