The arms are those of Stanhope, probably for Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, born in 1694, remembered chiefly as the author of the celebrated Letters to his son. "A wit among Lords and a Lord among Wits" according to Dr. Johnson, he was appointed in 1727 Ambassador at the Hague. For this he was supplied with an extensive service of plate from the Jewel House amounting to some 5,893 ounces of white and 1,066 ounces of gilt plate. To this he seems to have added silver paid for out of his own purse and engraved with his own arms, such as the present lot. A famous Chesterfield wine coolers of 1727, struck with the maker's mark of Paul Crespin overstriking that of Paul de Lamerie form part of this group.
A pair of identical waiters from the same set, of 1727, was sold from the Highclere Castle collection at Sotheby's, London, February 4-15, 1988, lot 106.