Chinese Bamboo Vases in Ming Enamels, Two Antique Color Plates, 1911

This is a set of two original 1911 color plates, Plates 174 and 179 from Volume II of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, sold together as one lot. What links them: the two bamboo vase pairs. Plate 174: Vases, a pair, mounted in ormolu, known as bamboo vases. The decoration of the body consists of sections of bamboo modeled in a bundle; each section is divided into panels by aubergine fillets, these panels having grounds of aubergine, yellow, and shades of green; on the top a knob in ormolu. The book gives it to the Ming period and records height 13 1/2 inches (34.3 cm); diameter 5 3/4 inches (14.6 cm). In the collection of Peter Ralli, Esq. Plate 179: Vases and covers, a pair, known as "bamboo vases". They represent sections of split bamboo, in which the joints of the cane, outlined and stippled in black, enter the scheme of decoration, forming the borders of small panels; these, with grounds of yellow, green, and aubergine, and a transparent green glaze. The book gives it to the Ming period and records height 10 inches (25.3 cm). From the collection formed by Richard Bennett, Esq., D.L.

The plates belong 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.

Edgar Gorer was one of the most visible dealers in Chinese art of his generation. He traded as S. Gorer and Son at 170 New Bond Street with a branch at 500 Fifth Avenue in New York, dealt chiefly in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong porcelain, and sold to Sir William Lever. He died on 7 May 1915 when the Lusitania was torpedoed, and his body was never recovered.

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 two 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 two original sheets sold together as one lot, and the set is never split.

Even age toning throughout. Light foxing in the margins of one of the two sheets. Slight wear at the corners of one of the two sheets. Shallow nicks along an edge of one of the two sheets.