About this sheet
This is a set of three original 1911 color plates, Plates 162, 168 and 169 from Volume II of Gorer and Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, sold together as one lot. What links them: sang de boeuf, flambe and crushed strawberry. Plate 162: Vase, baluster, sang de boeuf. A large and beautiful specimen; the color tones vary from a delicate copper-red to the most striking ruby upon the neck, shoulder, and body. The vitreous enamel upon the upper rim appears nearly white; upon the lower rim near the base it is of a darker tint. The book gives it to the Early Kang-he period and records height 17 3/8 inches (44.2 cm); diameter 7 1/4 inches (18.5 cm). In the collection of G. R. Davies, Esq. Plate 168: Vase, quadrangular, having elephant-head handles and a molded peach-shaped panel in low relief. Notwithstanding its close affinity with sang de bœuf, this transmutation coloring stands in a separate class, not with the monochromes; here upon a porcelain body with a white glaze the coloring is displaced by a porcellaneous body. The book gives it to the Ming period and records height 12 inches (30.5 cm); diameter 6 1/2 inches (16.5 cm). In the collection of G. R. Davies, Esq. Plate 169: Vase, baluster, or wine-jar. Surface covered with a deep reddish lilac glaze, through which are evenly distributed multitudes of very dark brown points, almost black; a rare "crushed strawberry," in which the coloring matter is mixed with the glaze, with a border of dark brown biscuit. The book gives it to the Kang-he period and records height 20 1/4 inches (51.5 cm); diameter 10 7/8 inches (27.6 cm). In a private collection.
The plates belong to Edgar Gorer and J. F. Blacker's Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, issued in London by Bernard Quaritch in 1911, a work in two volumes whose two hundred and fifty four color plates were printed to the highest standard the period could reach. 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.
Edgar Gorer was one of the most visible dealers in Chinese art of his generation. He traded as S. Gorer and Son at 170 New Bond Street with a branch at 500 Fifth Avenue in New York, dealt chiefly in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong porcelain, and sold to Sir William Lever. He died on 7 May 1915 when the Lusitania was torpedoed, and his body was never recovered.
A sheet of this size frames well at about forty by fifty centimeters and suits a study, a hallway or a dining room where its color can be seen close to. The three 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 three original sheets sold together as one lot, and the set is never split.
Even age toning throughout. Light foxing in the margins of all three sheets. Slight wear at the corners of two of the three sheets.
This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
