Until three years ago, these tureens were contained in a wood chest painted with the coats.of-arms of Moltke and Bille Brahe. By family tradition they came from Amalienborg in Copenhagen. There are four palaces at Amalienborg built during the mid-18th Century by Dansih noblemen. One of these was for the Lord Chamberlain, Adam Gottlob, Count Moltke of Bregentred whose palace was completed by 1754. Forty years later, his son Joachim Godske, Count Moltke of Bregentved sold the palace to King Christian VII who moved in February 1794 after a fire had destroyed the castle of Christiansborg. Since that date Moltke's palace has been known as King Christian VII's Palais. It was a great-grand-daughter of Adam Gottlob, Maria Caroline Vilhelmeine Moltke (1827-1889) who brought the tureens into the Bille Brahe family on her mariage to Johan Christian Baron Bille Brahe in 1852.

Pairs of 18th Century Danish tureens and stands are most uncommon; one pair is in a North German private collection having come from the Rosencrantz family and only three or four other pairs are known. Cf. Gammelt Dansk Solv, Boesen and Boje, Copenhagen 1948, plate 342 for an example with similar artichoke finial.