A Well-Carved Yaozhou Celadon Bowl. Northern Song Dynasty, 11th-12th Century. photo Christie's Ltd 2011

The sides flared from the foot to an angle where they then flare in a slight curve to the rim, the interior finely carved with two leafy stems that cross in the center, one bearing a single blossom, the other a blossom and a bud, with combed details, all below a single line border, covered inside and out with a crackled glaze of slightly olive tone that falls in a line on the neat ring foot and covers the center of the base. 8 5/8 in. (20.8 cm.) diam., box. Estimate $15,000 - $20,000. Price Realized $68,500

Provenance: Spink & Son Ltd., London.

Notes: A Yaozhou celadon bowl of similar shape and with similar carved design is illustrated by B. Gray, Early Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl. 70. Another is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3(II), London, 2006, p. 479, no. 1482. Two others of the same shape and with related design, where two stems cross, but with two buds and one flower, rather than the arrangement on the present bowl, are also published: one in the O.C.S. exhibition catalogue, Iron in the Fire, London, 1988, p. 42, no. 21; the other from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Japan, in the exhibition catalogue, The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, p. 60, no. 54.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part I & II,  15 - 16 September 2011. New York, Rockefeller Plaza. www.christies.com