Pair of Kien-lung Duck Figures on Lotus Leaves, 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 pair of figures of ducks, emblems of wedded happiness, standing on upturned lotus leaves. The ducks are modeled with broad bills, short legs and large feet, the coverts in red and the flight feathers in blue, green and aubergine, the rest in soft rose. They stand on convoluted green lotus leaves with rose stalks. Gorer and Blacker describe them as Kien-lung period and record them in the collection formed by Richard Bennett; height 9 1/2 inches (24 cm).

Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker brought out Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones in 1911 through Bernard Quaritch, the New Bond Street bookseller, in an edition of one thousand numbered copies. The two volumes carry two hundred and fifty four color plates, each a full page photographic reproduction of a single piece or group, with a tissue guard and a facing description in English and French. 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.

The plates were made while large collections of Chinese porcelain were being formed in Britain and America, and the text names the collections that held many of the pieces illustrated, among them those of P. A. B. Widener, George Salting and Richard Bennett.

Even age toning. 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.