A magnificent documentary Tournai armorial two-handled tureen, cover and stand dated 1770

painted with the arms of William Mercer of Aldie: quarterly, 1st Mercer of Aldie, 2nd Murray, 3rd, quarterly, 1st and 4th Atholl and 2nd and 3rd Stewart, and 4th Nairne, on each side of the tureen, below a moulded, gilt-edged shell border flanked by moulded and gilt foliate panels enclosing finely tooled gilt pendant flowers, a small flower spray flanking each of the silt-edged scroll handles, the stand similarly decorated, with flower sprays around the rim alternating with the moulded panels, the domed cover twice painted with the arms and similar moulded panels enclosing pendant gilt flowers, and alternating with flower sprays, radiating from an elaborate gilt-edged finial composed of an artichoke resting on two crossed leeks, leaves and pea pods, the base of the tureen and the stand inscribed in black 'Made at Tournay frebuary (sic) 1770,/ For/ William Mercer of Aldie Esqr:'

Colonel William Mercer of Aldie (d.1790);
Thence by descent

Lucien Delplace de Formanoir, Considérations sur les porcelaines de Tournai 1750-1830, Paris-Tournai 1970, pp.167ff. (illustrated)

William Mercer of Aldie and Meikleour (d. 1790) was a colonel in the Scots Brigade in the service of the United Provinces in the Netherlands. He was promoted four times by the Council of State of the United Provinces: in 1749 he was made capitaine-commandant, an honorary rank; in 1757,  he was promoted to capitaine in the Grenadiers company of the 1st Scots Battalion, and in 1769 to capitaine-commandant; finally, in 1777, he was made Honorary Colonel.

Mercer's name appears on a list of 13th December 1782 of officers in the infantry regiment under the command of Major-General Houstoun, who were released from service or integrated into the Dutch army. During Mercer's time, the brigade was headquartered in Maastricht and Tournai, the latter being at that time still part of the Netherlands. This magnificent tureen was probably ordered as a gift for the Colonel, perhaps when he was quartered in Tournai.

William Mercer married Margaret Murray, the daughter of William Murray of Pitkaithley, in 1762, and had one surviving daughter, Jean, who married George Keith Elphinstone, Admiral Viscount Keith. The Mercers came to prominence in the eleventh century. With a fleet of ships operating between Perth and the Low Countries, they supplied luxury goods to the Scottish royal household when Perth was Scotland's capital. Jean Mercer's granddaughter, Emily, rebuilt Meikleour House (which overlooks the river Tay on land the Mercers have owned for over 800 years) in the style of a French chateau to honour her father, Count Charles de Flahaut, an aide-de-camp to Napoleon and the natural son of the French statesman Talleyrand. The tureen is being offered for sale by Emily's great, great, grandson the writer, Lord Robert Mercer-Nairne.

The Scots Brigade of mercenaries first came to Holland in 1572 in support of the Protestant cause during the Dutch War of Independence, where they successfully fought against the army commanded by the Duke of Alva. The brigade - which comprised a maximum of three regiments - was still in the service of the United Provinces during the Seven Years War (1756-63). In 1775-76, it was briefly proposed that the brigade be redeployed to America during the War of Independence, though this did not transpire, and the brigade was integrated into the Dutch army in 1783. See James Fergeson, Papers, illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in the Service of the United Netherlands 1572-1782, Edinburgh, 1899, vols. I and III, for papers relating to the history of the brigade.

Dated Tournai porcelain is of the utmost rarity, with only three examples recorded including the present lot, and no other example with a comparable inscription in English is recorded.