Rice Cultivation Famille Verte Vase with Beaker Neck, Antique Plate 1911

Plate 127 of the 1911 book Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, an original color plate of Chinese porcelain, illustrates a large famille verte vase with a beaker neck painted with the cultivation of rice. Scenes around the body follow the rice year: harrowing a flooded field with an ox, sorting, preparing cord to lay out the field, harvesting, weighing and winnowing. The neck shows men sowing and a lady resting with attendants; the authors note unusual shading on the pavilions. Gorer and Blacker describe it as Kang-he period; height 2 feet 4 inches (71 cm), diameter 10 1/2 inches (26 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. Handling soiling along the left edge. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left, bottom right and top left corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom. One larger brown mark.

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