A superb pair of Chinese export porcelain octagonal armorial soup plates of interest to both American and English market collectors as it is one of three services made for Samuel Vaughan, an English merchant and planter in Jamaica, who married Bostonian Sarah Hallowell in 1747.  They relocated to England, but a large portion of the service returned to America after the Revolution when part of the family moved to Hallowell, Maine where they played a prominent role in settling the area in the new republic.  Each piece centered with the arms of Vaughan impaling Hallowell, finely painted, the rims of the plates scattered with floral sprigs, illustrated and discussed on page 576 in Howard’s Chinese Armorial Porcelain, Vol. II. Each measuring 8 1/2″ across; one with two small rim chips on the reverse filled, the other with glaze lines on the reverse which do not show through, otherwise splendid enamels in good condition. Circa 1770.