Late Ming Figure of Kuan Ti on an Aubergine Horse, Antique Plate 1911

An original color plate of 1911 from Gorer and Blacker's book of Chinese ceramic art, this sheet is given over to a figure of Kuan Ti, god of war, mounted on an aubergine horse. The god's face and hands are gilt and the beard is biscuit; an aubergine cape falls over apple green scale armor, and the horse's trappings are in white biscuit or gilt. Tiger head clasps and the belt fillets are left unglazed. Gorer and Blacker describe it as late Ming period and record it in the collection of G. L. Bevan; height 13 1/2 inches (34 cm), width 11 1/4 inches (29 cm).

The sheet is a plate from Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, published by Bernard Quaritch in 1911, written by the London dealer Edgar Gorer with J. F. Blacker and printed in color by a photo mechanical process. The work ran to two volumes and two hundred and fifty four plates in an edition of 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.

In Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones every piece or group is given a whole page to itself, so each plate is a complete image on its own, set in a wide margin, with the printed plate number as the only lettering on the sheet.

Even age toning. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. One larger brown mark.

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