LAWRENCE looked a little like a ceramic zoo on last month when a collection of 40 lots of Meissen porcelain animals was met with steady and eager bidding.

A large (47cm high) Cockatoo by Paul Walther for Meissen led the field and flew to £3,750 against hopes of £1,200 (lot 864). The collection realised £39,600 doubling the mid estimate.

An 18th Century English Delft bowl depicting Adam and Eve by the Tree of Knowledge was bought for £1,750 (lot 886).

An onion-shaped dark green glass wine bottle from 1709 with the seal of Alix Erskin exceeded hopes of £1,500 to make £4,750 (lot 816).

Named and dated bottles from the 18th Century are eagerly collected by wine enthusiasts and glass collectors alike.

A selection of Decorative Arts was led by a Moorcroft vase in the `Moonlit Blue` design that made £875 (lot 720) and two modern sculptures by Franta Belsky (1921-2000) that were contested to £2,000 (lot 759).

Four lots of Oriental wares took the sale’s best prices: a pair of Chinese coral stem bowls made £3,000 (lot 961); and a pair of Chinese Imperial sang de boeuf dishes of the Qianlong period (1735-1796) made £9,375 (lot 986).

A Chinese bronze censor of the Yuan/Ming dynasty made £11,250 (lot 974) and the price was shared by a five carved bamboo figures that showed exemplary skills of carving and finish (lot 1001). The delighted vendor had had hopes of just £150 for the group.