{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O87435"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O87435/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AK1959/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AK1959/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AK1959","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NR2154","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O87435/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O87435","accessionNumber":"M.331-1924","objectType":"Dish","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"By the early 16th century, brass dishes became greater in diameter, the depressions shallower and the flanges of the rims correspondingly wider. Pictorial themes continued to be used in decoration, but the wider bases afforded scope for an increasing use of abstract decoration. A central motif might be bounded by one or two concentric bands of decoration of either interlaced scroll like waves or lettering. This was not necessarily embossed with punches in the traditional manner but was often cast in the mould at an earlier stage in manufacturer. The inscriptions themselves were usually meaningless and merely incorporated into the overall design for their decorative value.\r\n\r\nThe subject depicted in the centre of this dish is the Virgin Mary. As the mother of Jesus Christ, she has an exceedingly rich iconography  which owes only a small part to the gospels and seems to have grown over the centuries out of a need of the Christian Church for a mother figure, the object of worship that lay at the centre of many ancient religions. The challenge to her role made by the Reformation in the 16th century served only to give fresh impetus to her portrayal on the part of those who venerated her. The cult of the Virgin remained throughout the Middle Ages, a statement of faith, as is made clear by the inscriptions that sometimes accompany her image: ‘aster Maria Dei’, and ‘Sancta Dei Genitrix’.\r\n\r\nThe production of brass bowls was centred in Nuremberg, but other centres of brass production were Dinant in Flanders and its immediate neighbourhood, from Bouvignes to Aachen. Techniques and styles were copied with equal facility everywhere so that today it is difficult to assign a place of manufacture within Northern Europe to any dish produced during the 16th and 17th centuries.  The dispersal of refugee craftsmen, after the downfall of Dinant in 1466 is one reason for this, as is the fact that dishes exported form their area of manufacture provided prototypes for others to follow. \r\n\r\nThose exported to England were sometimes used as alms dishes.  Elsewhere their function was primarily secular. European paintings of domestic interiors show that they were frequently used in conjunction with lavabos or ewers, also in brass, for washing hands after a meal. Before the 17th century, when forks became customary, such equipment was essential to any dining table.","physicalDescription":"The centre depicts the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, and is surrounded by an inscription done with a repeating stamp, between bands of rosettes and leaves.  The side is lobed and there are stamped ornaments on the rim.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Brass","id":"AAT10946"}],"techniques":[{"text":"stamped","id":"x36244"},{"text":"hammering","id":"AAT54098"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Brass, hammered in relief and stamped","categories":[{"text":"Food vessels & Tableware","id":"THES48952"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AK1959","2023NR2154"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES412568"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Dish","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"early 16th century","earliest":"1500-01-01","latest":"1550-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Misses E. C. and A. F. Vernet","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"16.4","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'GEHWART DER INFRID'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"stamped","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Inscription; decoration","note":"Inscription; decoration; stamped"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Brass dish depicting the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, German, early 16th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"One of a group of basins, dishes and bowls known by collectors as Nuremberg Brass Basins, even though many were made elsewhere.","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"The Virgin Mary","id":"N480"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"rosettes","id":"AAT9972"},{"text":"leaves","id":"x34654"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.331-1924"],"accessionNumberNum":"331","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1924,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-29","recordCreationDate":"2003-12-16","availableToBook":true}}