Magnificent Pair of Feng Huang Phoenix Figures, Gorer Plate 1911

Plate 97 of the 1911 book Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, an original color plate of Chinese porcelain, illustrates a magnificent pair of feng huang, the mythical phoenix, standing on rocky stands. The birds are colored in the five colors of the five virtues, with a red crested head, separately modeled feathers and six long tail feathers sweeping round the rocks. The hollow rocks, made to hold moss for flowers, carry ling-chih fungus and colored splashes on pale green. Gorer and Blacker describe them as late Kang-he period; height 25 inches (64 cm), width 9 inches (23 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 and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete. One larger brown mark.

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