Great Ming Jars in Turquoise and Purple, Three Antique Plates, 1911

This is a set of three original 1911 color plates, Plates 194, 195 and 196 from Volume II of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, sold together as one lot. What links them: large Ming jars in demi grand feu enamels. Plate 194: Jar or potiche and cover, of turbinated form, in thick yellowish porcelain. Decorated in archaic style and colored in the enamels of the demi-grand feu upon biscuit, the decoration composed of various designs: that on the neck in raised hexagons, followed on the shoulder by panels containing the ancient symbolical forms; the colors are the green, blue and chamois of the early period. The book gives it to the Early Ming period and records height 25 1/2 inches (64.7 cm); diameter 13 inches (33 cm). In the collection of Mrs. Potter-Palmer. Plate 195: Jar, with wide mouth, having a pierced or reticulated wall. Decorated in the colors of the old Ming porcelain: turquoise-blue, manganese-purple, with that tone of yellow named chamois. The reticulated body is decorated all round with the eight Taoist immortals riding in the sea, the design outlined by raised fillets. The book gives it to the Ming period and records height 13 3/4 inches (34 cm); diameter 14 1/4 inches (36 cm). In the collection of H. James Yates, Esq. Plate 196: Jar and cover, large. Decoration designed by fillets in relief, in part remaining in biscuit with some yellowish tints, in part turquoise-blue upon a deep blue ground; this decoration of archaic style, colored with enamels of the demi-grand feu, is composed of various borders, including godroons. The book gives it to the Ming period and records height 19 1/2 inches (49.5 cm); diameter 14 1/2 inches (37 cm). In the collection of S. E. Kennedy, Esq.

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

Even age toning throughout. Handling soiling along the edges of one of the three sheets. Light foxing in the margins of all three sheets. Slight wear at the corners of one of the three sheets.