Two Puzzle Wine Pots and a Ginger Jar, Famille Verte Plate 1911

Printed in color in London in 1911 for Bernard Quaritch, this original antique plate shows a group of two covered puzzle wine-pots and a small covered ginger jar. The wine-pots have pierced necks wound with aubergine serpents, so wine passes only through the handle to the spout, and their bodies show panels of ladies and a boy in gardens. The ginger jar has a seeded green flowered ground with reserves of peonies and dianthus. Gorer and Blacker describe all three as Kang-he period and record them as from the collection formed by Richard Bennett, Esq., D.L.; wine-pots height 9 1/4 inches (24 cm), width 5 3/8 inches (14 cm), jar height 6 1/4 inches (16 cm), diameter 4 3/4 inches (12 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. Handling soiling along the bottom and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete.

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