Two Black Sprinklers and a Bronze Form Beaker, Ming, Gorer 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 group of two black sprinklers with spherical bodies and a square beaker of archaic bronze form. The sprinklers have a green cracked ice ground with four round panels of lotus and prunus in relief, colored and gilt, and black necks with a reserved lotus under green glaze. The beaker carries t'ao t'ieh masks on a green scroll ground, with four projecting ears and palmette borders. Gorer and Blacker describe them as Ming period and record them as from the collection formed by Richard Bennett; sprinklers height 7 3/4 inches (20 cm), diameter 3 inches (8 cm); beaker height 7 1/8 inches (18 cm), width 5 7/8 inches (15 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. All four corners complete. One larger brown mark.

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