Antique Chinese Glass Vases Imitating Jasper Agate, Kien-lung Pair, 1911

Plate 254 from Volume II of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, an original 1911 color plate of a pair of vases in antique Chinese glass, reddish brown veined with yellow and brown, imitating agate merging into jasper. Pair of vases in antique Chinese glass, imitating jasper-agate. In varied tones of reddish-brown, veined and spotted with yellow and brown, translucent only when viewed by a strong transmitted light; the body imitates the merging of agate into jasper, with yellow striations surrounding the fused pieces of different colors. The book gives it to the Kien-lung period and records height 6 1/4 inches (16 cm); diameter 2 1/4 inches (5.8 cm). In the collection of S. E. Kennedy, Esq.

The plate belongs to Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, issued in London by Bernard Quaritch in 1911, a work in two volumes whose two hundred and fifty four color plates were printed to the highest standard the period could reach. 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.

Framed simply in a dark wood molding with a generous cream mount, it holds a wall on its own and sits comfortably beside furniture of almost any period.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction.

Even age toning. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete.