Antique Color Plate of a Famille Noire Baluster Vase, Kang-he, Gorer 1911

An original color plate of 1911 from Gorer and Blacker's book of Chinese ceramic art, this sheet is given over to a famille noire baluster vase decorated in enamel colors with flowering trees, birds and butterflies. One side shows a double cherry tree and a large iron red peony above rocks and reeds; the other shows Ho-Ho birds with a white flowered magnolia and a yellow chrysanthemum at its foot. Gorer and Blacker describe it as Kang-he period and record it in the collection of P. A. B. Widener; height 17 1/2 inches (44 cm), diameter 8 inches (20 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. Handling soiling along the right edge. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete. Several larger brown marks.

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