Antique Color Plate of a Cylindrical Vase with the Three Star Gods, 1911

This antique color plate is Plate 30 of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, 1911. It shows a cylindrical vase on a finely crackled apple green ground, painted with the three star gods of happiness. Lu, god of rank, sits robed and crowned as an emperor holding a jade tablet, a crane parts him from Fu carrying a boy, and Shou Lao holds out a peach to the child. A large blue ju-i sceptre fills the reverse, with ju-i and key pattern borders at the neck. Gorer and Blacker describe it as early Kang-he period and record it as from the collection formed by Richard Bennett; height 17 1/2 inches (45 cm), diameter 7 inches (18 cm).

This is one of the two hundred and fifty four color plates in Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, published in London by Bernard Quaritch in 1911 for Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker. The piece was photographed and the plate printed in color, so the glaze, the palette and the modeling of the original are carried over directly rather than interpreted by a draftsman. Each plate faced a page of description in English and French. The plates are color collotypes, and the book records that it was produced and printed by the Menpes Printing and Engraving Company of London and Watford.

Edgar Gorer (1872 to 1915) was a London dealer in Chinese art. He traded as S. Gorer and Son from 170 New Bond Street, opened a shop at 500 Fifth Avenue in New York, and sold to Sir William Lever, later Lord Leverhulme. He was lost on 7 May 1915 when the Lusitania was torpedoed.

Even age toning. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top right corner.

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