Tiger Lily Jars and Bottles, Two Plates of One Kang-he Group, 1911

This is a set of two original 1911 color plates, Plates 148 and 149 from Volume II of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, sold together as one lot. What links them: tiger lily jars and bottles, the book's own group. Plate 148: Group of three cylindrical jars or pots and covers and a pair of bottles. The ornament on the jars is the so-called "tiger-lily" pattern, consisting of large blue leaves enclosing flowers, in arabesques, on a white ground, having the stems reserved in white; at the base of the jars is a border of semi-flowers and foliage, also in blue on white. The bottles have narrow necks, with elaborate decoration consisting of a number of borders or zones. and records height 7 1/2 inches (19.1 cm); diameter 4 inches (10.2 cm). Plate 149: Group of three cylindrical jars or pots and covers and a pair of bottles. The ornament on the jars is the so-called "tiger-lily" pattern, consisting of large blue leaves enclosing flowers, in arabesques, on a white ground, having the stems reserved in white; at the base of the jars is a border of semi-flowers and foliage, also in blue on white. The bottles have narrow necks, with elaborate decoration consisting of a number of borders or zones. and records height 7 1/2 inches (19.1 cm); diameter 4 inches (10.2 cm).

The sheets come from Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, the two volume work by the London dealer Edgar Gorer and the writer J. F. Blacker, published by Bernard Quaritch of 11 Grafton Street, New Bond Street, in 1911 in an edition of one thousand numbered copies. The plates are color collotypes, a photographic process that reproduces continuous tone without a visible dot screen, which is why the glazes keep their depth on paper.

What gives these plates their standing is the quality of the collections they record. Pieces illustrated here passed through the great Edwardian cabinets, and several are now in museums, so the book is a photographic record of where this material sat a century ago.

Framed simply in a dark wood molding with a generous cream mount, it holds a wall on its own and sits comfortably beside furniture of almost any period. The two sheets are the same size and were printed by the same hand, so they hang as one group.

These are original antique prints, not modern reproductions. They are two original sheets sold together as one lot, and the set is never split.

Even age toning throughout. Light foxing in the margins of both sheets. Slight wear at the corners of one of the two sheets.