Pair of Ming Geese on Rocks in Three Colors, Gorer Plate 1911

This is Plate 100 from Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, an original 1911 color plate of Chinese porcelain showing a pair of geese standing on rocks, in aubergine, green and yellow splashed with white. The bodies are in two tones of aubergine, darker on the crowns and backs of the necks, with white fronts and breasts. The wing feathers are engraved and colored like the rocks, and the feet are outlined and stippled in black. Gorer and Blacker describe them as Ming period and record them in the collection of S. E. Kennedy; height 9 inches (23 cm), width 7 3/4 inches (20 cm).

This is one of the two hundred and fifty four color plates in Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, published in London by Bernard Quaritch in 1911 for Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker. The piece was photographed and the plate printed in color, so the glaze, the palette and the modeling of the original are carried over directly rather than interpreted by a draftsman. Each plate faced a page of 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.

Edgar Gorer (1872 to 1915) was a London dealer in Chinese art. He traded as S. Gorer and Son from 170 New Bond Street, opened a shop at 500 Fifth Avenue in New York, and sold to Sir William Lever, later Lord Leverhulme. He was lost on 7 May 1915 when the Lusitania was torpedoed.

Even age toning. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top.

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