Edinburgh – Scottish masterpieces by Samuel John Peploe RSA (British, 1871-1935) lead Bonhams' Scottish Art sale in Edinburgh on 21 May. Roses in a Green Jug, once in the collection of the important Scottish Colourist patron Ion R. Harrison, now comes to auction for the first time, with an estimate of £250,000-350,000.

May Matthews, Managing Director of Bonhams Scotland, commented, "Peploe's Roses in a Green Jug is a masterful execution of composition and colour, taking inspiration from Paul Cézanne and French Post-Impressionism, while maintaining the artist's distinctive individual style. Peploe's still lifes were meticulously planned and executed, creating the dialogue between object and space for which he and his fellow Colourists were renowned. The work has a remarkable provenance, having once hung in the drawing room of Croft House owned by Ion R. Harrison, a notable patron of the Scottish Colourists. We expect significant interest for this rare and exciting work offered at auction for the very first time."

Matthew Sturgis, writing for Bonhams Magazine, said, "Peploe became a distinctive figure in the florists and greengrocers, searching for the right bloom or specimen for his work: tulips in spring, roses in summer, fruit and vegetables during the winter months. To the market-traders of the neighbourhood he was an enigma, rejecting an orange for its form, or an apple on account of its colour, and remaining unmoved by their claims as to its ripeness or flavour."

A search for the perfect still life

Peploe once famously characterised his career as a search for the perfect still life, painstakingly setting up compositions featuring the same elements in different combinations. Strongly influenced by his time in Paris studying the work of Post-Impressionist masters from 1910-1912, Peploe returned to Scotland with an experimental flair which he brought to his still lifes. He explored the relationships between form and space, colour and tone, naturalism and design, and in Roses in a Green Jug, he came ever closer to reaching his goal.

First encountering Peploe's work at an exhibition in Glasgow in the 1920s, Major Ion R. Harrison, a Scottish shipping magnate, was captivated by his still life masterpieces. He remarked, 'They really startled me for, to my eyes, they were so ultra-modern. The formal way in which the [flowers] were painted, and their brilliant colour against equally strong draperies, were at the time beyond my comprehension.' Harrison soon became a close friend and patron of Peploe and the Scottish Colourists, a relationship he maintained throughout his life as he built a remarkable collection of master works.

Amongst his most treasured pieces in his collection was Roses in a Green Jug. The painting hung pride of place in the drawing room of the Harrisons' home, Croft House in Helensburgh, and can be seen hung in the background of Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell's Portrait of Mrs Ion R. Harrison of 1932.

The Isle of Iona

The sale will also offer a strong selection of landscapes of Iona, led by Peploe's paintings of The White Strand, Iona, with an estimate of £70,000-100,000 and Eilean Annraidh from Iona, with an estimate of £50,000-70,000. Also included in the sale are depictions of Iona by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell RSA RSW and John Maclauchlan Milne RSA.

A visit to the island of Iona in the summer of 1920 with his friend and fellow Scottish Colourist Cadell would spark more than a decade of artistic inspiration for Peploe. Returning most summers, Peploe relished the northern end of the island, capturing its jagged rocks against white sands, vibrant sea and shifting rays of Western light, in all weather conditions. It would become a source of solace and healing for both Peploe and Cadell in the years following World War I, a small isle flooded with light, bridging land and sea, earth and ether.

Additional highlights of the sale include:

• Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) May Easter. Estimate: £40,000-60,000

• Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) The Island of Rhum, from Iona. Estimate: £30,000-50,000

• John Maclauchlan Milne (British, 1885-1957) Eilean, Iona. Estimate: £20,000-30,000

• Samuel John Peploe (British, 1871-1935) Rocks, Iona. Estimate: £20,000-30,000

• George Leslie Hunter (British, 1877-1931) Still life with Jug. Estimate: £20,000-30,000

• Six works by Jack Vettriano OBE (British, 1951-2025), including Pendine Beach (Study), painted in 1996, estimate: £20,000-30,000.

• Anne Redpath (British, 1895-1965) Spanish Candlestick. Estimate: £18,000-25,000