A fine Yaozhou celadon-glazed 'peony' bowl, Northern Song Dynasty; 18.4cm (7 1/4in) diam. Estimate £8,000 - 12,000 (€9,600 - 14,000). Unsold.. Photo Bonhams.

The shallow dish on a low slightly tapering foot with spreading sides, the interior moulded with three peony blossoms issuing from two entwined stems amid thick foliage, the bowl all covered with a rich yellowish-green glaze, pooling to a darker hue in the recesses. 

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London (label), acquired from Bluett's on 8 June 1955
Lieutenant-Colonel W.B.R. Neave-Hill (1912-2000) and thence by descent.
(N-H Label).

Note: Lieutenant-Colonel Neave-Hill was an honorary secretary of the Oriental Ceramic Society for many years starting in 1967. As a member of the Selection Committee he helped to organise the following exhibitions: The Art of the Sung Dynasty, 1960, The Arts of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 1964, and The Ceramic Art of China, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1971. In 1975 he published Chinese Ceramics, London, with a foreword by Sir Harry Garner. He was a contributor to the Transactions of the Oriental Ceramics Society and has written various articles and reviews for Oriental Art and the Connoisseur. He was a client of Bluett's from 1953 until the 1970s. The Neave-Hill family lent six pieces to the 1971 Exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART. London, New Bond Street, 15 May 2014 - www.bonhams.com