Early 16th Century Un-Polished Brass Dish

An early 16^th century brass dish, northern European, of unpolished brass; the colour, (patination), rare. Made for use at a time, prior to the adoption from Italy of the fork, when a dish such as this would be used in conjunction with ewers for the washing of hands between courses or at the end of a meal, food usually broken down in a mortar and then eaten from a trencher of stale bread.

A large production of these dishes stemmed from Nuremberg or Dinant in Flanders, or its immediate neighbour, Aachen.

Those that found their way to Britain were sometimes used as alms dishes and have thereby became known within the UK as alms dishes.

dia 17.5 inches