Agate Fishes, Rock Crystal and Chalcedony, Three Hard Stone Plates, 1911

This is a set of three original 1911 color plates, Plates 249, 252 and 253 from Volume II of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, sold together as one lot. What links them: hard stone groups: agate, crystal and chalcedony. Plate 249: Group of three fishes in agate and a jasper carp. In the group two of the fishes, hollowed as receptacles for flowers, rise erect from the waves carved upon the wooden stand; the third is supported upon the head of the one in variegated white agate. The separate fish is carved in red jasper and perforated as a vase for flowers, a carp rising erect from the waves, which are also carved in the same stone. The book gives it to the Kien-lung period and records height 8 inches (20.3 cm); width 6 1/4 inches (15.8 cm), the book giving a size for each piece shown. In the Salting Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum. In the collection of H. S. Whitaker, Esq. Plate 252: Group of two vases and covers and a teapot, each carved from a perfect piece of clear transparent rock crystal. The flattened piriform vase is decorated with archaic dragons, chih-lung, whose undulating forms, displayed in much detail, are carved in high relief over the body of the vase; the neck is plain and the knob is a dragon. The teapot, at the spout, represents the head and breast of the fêng-huang, whose wings and tail spread over the adjacent parts; above the wings are branches with fruit and foliage, the Buddha's hand citron, etc., the ornament cut in openwork and high relief. and records height 9 1/2 inches (24.1 cm); width 6 3/4 inches (17.1 cm). Plate 253: Group of six small pieces, carved in various hard stones: three sacrificial cups in chalcedony, two boxes in agate, and a ting in amethystine rock crystal. The cup of irregular form in the middle is carved all round in cameo with ling-chih, its color resembling translucent amber. In the other two cups, on each side of a bat holding a movable ring as a handle, is a chih-lung in relief and openwork of transparent light stone; simple scroll designs also decorate the cover, which is surmounted by a coiled dragon. The book gives it to the Kien-lung period and records height 1 3/4 inches (4.5 cm); width 4 1/2 inches (11.5 cm), the book giving a size for each piece shown. In the collection of H. S. Whitaker, Esq.

They were published in 1911 by Bernard Quaritch of New Bond Street, London, in Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, a work of two volumes and two hundred and fifty four color plates limited to one thousand numbered copies. The plates are color collotypes, a photographic process that reproduces continuous tone without a visible dot screen, which is why the glazes keep their depth on paper.

The volumes were produced as a record of pieces Gorer handled or admired, and the plates were made with unusual care for the period. A century later they survive as some of the best color images of early twentieth century taste in Chinese ceramics and hard stones.

It hangs well in a bedroom or a small sitting room where a large picture would overwhelm the wall, and it rewards being hung at eye level where the detail can be read. The three sheets are the same size and were printed by the same hand, so they hang as one group.

These are original antique prints, not modern reproductions. They are three original sheets sold together as one lot, and the set is never split.

Even age toning throughout. Foxing over much of the margin of two of the three sheets. Slight wear at the corners of two of the three sheets.