Lot 7. A Longquan celadon-glazed 'Eight Immortals' bowl, 15th century; 18cm (7in) diam. Estimate £12,000 - 15,000 (€14,000 - 18,000). Unsold. Photo courtesy Bonham's

he heavily potted bowl moulded on the interior with the Eight Daoist Immortals standing around the well and variously holding their attributes including a flute, a sword, a leafy fan, a crutch and other objects all beneath a band of keyfret below the rim, the interior, exterior and foot covered with a thick green celadon glaze. 

Note: Compare a very similar bowl in the Longquan Celadon Museum, Zhejiang, dated to the Ming Dynasty and illustrated in Longquan Celadon of China, Zhejiang, 1998, p.145. Two further examples of this type of pottery with incised figures, one telling the story of the celebrated Warring States general Su Qin, are illustrated by J.Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, nos.16:52 and 16:53, where the author notes that whereas Hobson originally suggested in 1926 that bowls of this type were made in Jiangsu or Anhui, more modern research by the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Office suggests that they were in fact made at Longquan.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART. London, New Bond Street. 7 Nov 2013