LONDON.- A fascinating selection of delicate porcelain and glass treasures are to be offered in the Fine European Ceramics and Glass sale, on the 26th of November at Bonhams New Bond Street salerooms.

A star lot is an extremely rare Du Paquier tankard and cover, circa 1725-30. Estimated at £40,000-60,000, the only other recorded example of this rare shape is in a private collection.

The flared body of the tankard is mounted with a handle in the form of a fabulously coloured lizard, holding a branch with fruit in its mouth. The piece is decorated with a purple monochrome panel depicting a Chinoiserie scene, and the cover is topped with a recumbent lion finial.

Other highlights are pieces from the Meissen factory’s famed Swan Service- a large oval tray circa 1742, estimated at £30,000-50,000; a circular dish circa 1738-40, £15,000-25,000; and a dinner plate, £7,000-9,000. The Swan Service was ordered in 1736 for the director of the Meissen manufactory, Heinrich Graf von Brühl. The pieces are painted with the marriage arms of Brühl and his wife, Maria Anna, who married in April 1734.

The service originally comprised over 2,200 pieces, of which most remained in the family's possession until the Second World War. From around 1880, pieces were lent to museums in Dresden and Berlin or passed to collectors, so that by 1900 only 1,400 pieces remained at the family’s ancestral home, Schloss Pförten. These remaining pieces were either destroyed along with the castle, or stolen at the end of the Second World War.

A large and rare Dutch Delft garden urn made for King William III at the end of the 17th century is set to achieve £6,000-8,000. Made by the Griekse A, one of the most important Dutch Delft workshops, there are only three other known examples of complete garden urns of a similar size and decorated with a Royal monogram.

Mary, daughter of James II, married her Dutch cousin, William III, Prince of Orange in 1677. Making her new home in the Dutch Republic, Mary developed a deep love for her adopted country and its products, especially ceramics. Written inventories and also excavated shards found at both the Dutch royal palace of Het Loo and Hampton Court, the Royal Residence of the couple from 1689, show how deep the taste for Dutch Delftware influenced the interior decoration at both these residences.

A number of Delft shards excavated at Het Loo belong to large, open-topped urn-shaped pots, found where in the 17th century the Orangery was located. This is a strong indication of their use as garden urns for exotic plants which had to be brought inside in the winter on account of the climate. This urn is lacking the monogram for Queen Mary, and it can therefore be asserted that it was made after her death in 1694.

A Vincennes green-ground ewer and basin, circa 1757, is estimated at £20,000-30,000. Vincennes was the forerunner to the world-renowned Sèvres porcelain factory.

The pieces were purchased by the Paris dealer Lazare Duvaux. There is a possibility they were then purchased by Frederick, 3rd Viscount St. John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke (1734-1787), Lydiard Park, Wiltshire. Duvaux's records from December 1757 state that 'Un broc dans sa jatte ovale, à fleurs en relief, fond vert peint à fleurs dans les cartouches' [green ground painted with cartouches of flowers] was purchased by Lord Bolingbroke- indicating a definite possibility that this is the set formerly in the collection of the 2nd Viscount.