Hugh, Duke of Northumberland (1785-1847) was eductaed at Eton and St. John's College, Cambridge. After sitting in the House of Commons he was summoned to the House of Lords in 1812 and was styled Baron Percy until his father's death in 1817. He received the Order of the Garter in 1819 and was was King George IV sword bearer at his coronaton in 1821. He was also present at the coronation of Charles X of France in 1825, when he represented the king. The cost of the mission was borne by the Duke, the value of the jewels and plate alone was reported to be #200,000.

These ivory-handled chafing dishes display heraldic-medalions with the Percy family badge of a sarecenic cressent-moon, wreathed by the garter-ribbon and ensigned with the Duke's coronet, for Hugh, 3rd Duke of Northumberland, (see above). The Grecian-scrolled side handles and voluted-truss feet emerge from acanthus clasps in the bold 'antique' style such as Charles Heathcote Tatham (d.1842), introducted in his Etchings representing Fragments of Grecian and Roman Architecture, 1806; while the Ducal badge is displayed on acanthus-wreathed cartouches, that are suspended from the bead-strung rim and festooned with laurels that are draped from the acanthus volutes held by patterae with the sunflower badge of Apollo. The ornament was intended to harmonise with the interior decoration and silver introduced in the 1770's at Northumberland House, London and Syon House, Middlesex, for Hugh, 1st Duke of Nothumberland by Robert Adam (d.1792), architect to King George III and author of The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1779, vol. I, the second volume of which was published in 1822