Ming Famille Noire Tall Cylindrical Vase with Prunus and Finches, 1911

Printed in color in London in 1911 for Bernard Quaritch, this original antique plate shows a tall, slightly ovoid cylindrical famille noire vase. A leafless prunus with white flowers on aubergine and green branches spreads over the whole surface from green rocks, with finches perched and flying and green bamboo around the foot. The authors single out the strong drawing of the tree. Gorer and Blacker describe it as Ming period and record it in the Salting Collection; height 24 3/8 inches (62 cm), diameter 8 7/8 inches (23 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. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete. Several larger brown marks.

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