An important single owner collection of German Porcelain worth over £500,000 is to be sold at Bonhams in London on 8 October.

The Hasse Collection has been assembled over the past 30 years by an anonymous English private enthusiast and contains pieces from some of the great collections of the past such as the Royal Collections of Saxony.

Among the prize pieces is a Meissen Augustus Rex bottle vase (£25,000-35,000) from around 1730 which was made for Augustus the Strong, the Elector of Saxony under whose patronage the production of porcelain at Meissen started in 1710.  The vase is painted in a Kakiemon palette and decorated with wreaths, birds and butterflies.  It bears the monogram AR - Augustus Rex - and was almost certainly intended to take its place in the Japanese Palace in Dresden, a building which the King purchased in 1717 and then ordered to be reconstructed entirely for the display of porcelain.

Other fascinating pieces include a very early Meissen teapot and cover from 1720 (£4,000-6,000) and a rare two handed beaker from 1722 (£2,000-3,000). Both are decorated with figures from the Commedia dell’Arte – the popular stock characters who first made their appearance among troupes of travelling performers in 16th century Italy.

Director of Bonhams Ceramics Department, Sebastian Kuhn said, “It’s a pleasure to be offering a collection which shows so abundantly the sheer variety and quality of 18th century German porcelain.”