Lao Tzu as Shou Lao Riding a Buffalo, Ming Porcelain, Plate 1911

This antique color plate is Plate 96 of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, 1911. It shows a figure of Lao Tzu, in his form as Shou Lao, riding a buffalo. The buffalo is aubergine with hatched hair, black hoofs and crescent horns and a white underside. The rider wears a harlequin brocade of colored squares, the "all nations" design, and recalls the legend of the buffalo carrying the sage west to the Kun Lun paradise. Gorer and Blacker describe it as Ming period and record it in the collection formed by Richard Bennett; height 10 5/8 inches (27 cm), width 10 1/8 inches (26 cm).

The plate comes from Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, the two volume work that Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker published through Bernard Quaritch of 11 Grafton Street, New Bond Street, London, in 1911. Two hundred and fifty four full page plates were printed in color by a photo mechanical process, each one facing a page of letterpress in English and French that described the piece. The edition was limited to one thousand numbered copies. 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.

Each sheet shows a single piece or group photographed against a plain ground, at a consistent scale and format throughout the book, with the plate number printed in red below. The book's text, which faced each plate, gives the authors' description, the period they assigned and the collection the piece was in.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the bottom and top edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the top right corner. One larger brown mark.

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