Pilgrim Bottle with Peach-Bloom Dragon on Yellow, Antique Plate, 1911

An original antique color plate from Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, London, 1911, this sheet shows a flattened gourd-form pilgrim bottle with two curved handles. A five-clawed dragon painted in peach-bloom red rises over blue and white waves with the sacred jewel, among ju-i head clouds; above, a double peach is circled by five bats, which the authors say indicate the five possessions that secure complete happiness. All the decoration is painted under the glaze. Gorer and Blacker describe it as Kien-lung period and record it as from the Imperial Palace of Peking; height 16 inches (41 cm), width 10 inches (26 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. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left and bottom right corners. Several larger brown marks.

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