Kuan Yin as a Youth with Two Court Ladies, Gorer Plate 1911

This antique color plate is Plate 90 of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, 1911. It shows a group of three figures: Kuan Yin in masculine form as a youth holding a lotus, between two court ladies. Kuan Yin's coat carries black stars, red peonies and green leaves over a yellow robe. One lady wears apple green with prunus over a yellow flowered skirt, and the other, who holds a peach, wears pale green with blue revers. Gorer and Blacker describe the group as late Ming or early Kang-he period and record it in the collection of Henry Hirsch; Kuan Yin height 9 3/4 inches (25 cm), breadth 4 1/2 inches (11 cm), court lady height 12 5/8 inches (32 cm), breadth 3 5/8 inches (9 cm).

Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones was issued in London by Bernard Quaritch in 1911, in two large quarto volumes limited to one thousand numbered copies. Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker wrote the text, which runs in English and French, and the two hundred and fifty four plates were printed in color from photographs of the pieces themselves rather than drawn by hand. This sheet is one of them. 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.

Gorer and Blacker chose the showpieces of the trade: tall black ground vases, green ground beakers, figures and animals, many of them from named private collections in Britain and America. The plates are a record of Western taste in Chinese ceramics in 1911 as much as of the objects themselves.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the bottom edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner. Several larger brown marks.

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