The arms are those of Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun, born in 1661 and created an Earl in 1703. Tradition has it that he owed his elevation to the peerage at such a young age to the fact that his father, John Hope, when accompanying the Duke of York (later James II) in the Royal Gloucester when it sank, gave up his seat in the lifeboat to the Duke and was in consequence drowned.

The 1st Earl was a zealous supporter of the Union of England and Scotland in 1707, but is best remembered today as the builder of Hopetoun House in Linlithgow, chiefly from the designs of the architect Sir William, 1st Marquess of Annandale. He died in 1742.

Other pieces of the Hopetoun Service to have appeared at auction since 1953 include a dish identical to the present lot and a pair of matching smaller dishes (12 1/2in. diam.), by Thomas Parr, 1707, sold Sotheby's, London, June 8, 1972, lot 71, as well as twelve soup plates of 1706, maker's mark of Philip Rollos I, sold in the same Rooms, June 18, 1964, lot 128, and six further examples by the same sold from Patino Collection, Christie's, New York, October 20, 1986, lot 39. Dinner plates from the same service of 1707, maker's mark of Thomas Parr included twelve sold by Sotheby's, London, June 13, 1983, lot 35 and Christie's, London, July 12, 1983, lot 172.