Dark Green Bulbous Vase with Two Drongos in Relief, Ming, Plate 1911

Printed in color in London in 1911 for Bernard Quaritch, this original antique plate shows a bulbous vase with a short beaker neck on a dark green ground, decorated in relief. Brown rocks and prunus and peony trees with white flowers tinged aubergine are worked in relief, and two drongos in black enamel under green glaze perch on the rocks. The authors note this bird is rarely found on Chinese porcelain. Gorer and Blacker describe it as Ming period and record it in the Salting Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum; height 15 3/4 inches (40 cm), diameter 10 1/4 inches (26 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. All four corners complete.

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