Late Ming Quadrangular Beaker with Court Scenes, Antique Color 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 quadrangular beaker with a raised square central band, painted in aubergine, yellow and shades of green. The body has a lozenge trellis ground broken by ju-i shaped panels of rocks, flowers and insects, and the central band holds sacred objects inside a yellow key border. Neck panels show Chinese life, including a mandarin offering books to a court lady and a rider on a yellow horse beneath a willow. Gorer and Blacker describe it as Late Ming period and record it in the Salting Collection; height 16 3/4 inches (43 cm), width 7 1/2 inches (19 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. 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.