A pair of George II sterling silver soup plates
David Willaume, London
1727
Engraved with a heraldic crest under an earls coronet.
diameter 9 3/4in (25cm); total weight approximately 44oz troy
Provenance:
Property from a Private Hancock Park Collection.

Footnote:
The engraved crest on this pair of plates is that of Murray, Earl of Dunmore.

These plates were in the possession of John Murray (born 31 October 1685 - died April 1752), the 2nd Earl of Dunmore. He was the eldest surviving son of Lord Charles Murray and his wife, Catherine Watts. John succeeded his father as the 2nd Earl of Dunmore, together with his minor peerages on the 19 April 1710. John sat in the House of Lords at Westminster as Scottish representative peer in the years 1713 – 14 and 1727 – 52. He served in the British Army as a General and was the Colonel of the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards. At one time he was the Governor of Plymouth in the County of Devon. As John never married upon his death in 1752, his younger brother, William succeeded him as the 3rd Earl of Dunmore.

The Earls of Dunmore are a junior branch of the Ducal House of Atholl. The progenitor of the Murrays of Atholl and Dunmore was Freskin de Moravia, a Fleming, of Duffus, in Moray who acquired lands from King David I of Scotland who reigned between 1124 and 1153. Freskin is thought to have been a chieftain of the Duffus branch of the Royal House of Moray. From him descend the Murrays of Tullibardine, ancestors of the Dukes of Atholl and the Earls of Dunmore. The Dukes of Atholl are the Chiefs of the Clan Murray and their seat is Blair Castle, Blair Atholl near Pitlochry in the County of Perthshire.

Marked to undersides. General marks, scratches, rubbing, tarnishing and wear commensurate with age and use.