Chinese Egg-shell Porcelain Lanterns, Two Yung-ching Plates, 1911

This is a set of two original 1911 color plates, Plates 209 and 210 from Volume II of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, sold together as one lot. What links them: egg shell porcelain lanterns. Plate 209: Lanterns, a pair, egg-shell, ovoid, hexagonal. Crenellated at the top and bottom, the crenellations decorated with key pattern in relief, colored with light and dark blue; the sides are panels pierced with rice-star, alternating with ju-i head trellis in white, interrupted by medallions painted with flowers. The book gives it to the Yung-ching period and records height 12 7/8 inches (32.8 cm); diameter 7 1/2 inches (18.3 cm). From the collection formed by Richard Bennett, Esq., D.L. Plate 210: Group of two ovoid lanterns in egg-shell porcelain (one hexagonal, one octagonal). The hexagonal lantern has crenellated top and bottom decorated with the Greek key fret, raised and colored, the six sides in three parts each, with panels of rice-grain stars enclosed with the same brocade design. The octagonal lantern, with crenellated reticulated top and bottom, has a delicate celadon green ground, the eight panels painted with landscapes with rocks and trees, with a border above and below the landscape. The book gives it to the Yung-ching (hexagonal lantern) ; Kang-he (octagonal lantern) period and records height 13 inches (33 cm); diameter 7 1/8 inches (18.1 cm), the book giving a size for each piece shown. In the Salting Collection.

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 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.