Assay Master Hugh Gordon, of Hanoverian pattern with engraved crest and motto to reverse of terminal (20.5cm long, 2.4oz) Heraldry: Engraved with the crest and motto for Hope of a broken terrestrial globe beneath a cloud-issuing rainbow with the motto 'At Spes Infracta'; (Yet my hope is unbroken). Likely for John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun (1704 - 1781). Note: This spoon is en suite with an example sold, Scottish Silver & Applied Arts, Lyon & Turnbull 14th August 2019 lot 410 For two generations The Hopetoun family, Charles and John Hope 1st and 2nd Earls, were perhaps the most important commissioners of silver in Scotland. Their influence on the Edinburgh trade appears not only to have given many valuable and important commissions, but to have encouraged the goldsmiths to new heights, resulting in truly fashionable and important items. As with all family commissions, the success of the family closely directly relates to the commissions and need for silver. The boom in commissions seems to have occurred from 1699 when the architect William Bruce was commissioned by Margaret Hope, Charles's mother, to create Hopetoun House, built in its original form between 1699 and 1702. This original Bruce building has been much changed by later work with the William Adam rebuild of 1721. Flatware bearing the armorial/ crest is surprisingly rare. It is unknown how large the original services of flatware within Hopetoun House were. Oddly, these pieces do not seem to have survived, and it is predominantly larger important pieces which are still recorded. It is highly likely these smaller items were regularly recycled into larger impressive wares and while obviously made in large numbers, few survive.