In Venice, the production of brass dishes flourished in the first half of the 16th century. They were very elaborately decorated but not with traditional European linear ornamentation. During this time, Venice traded, and fought, extensively with the Turkish and Arab empires which bordered the Mediterranean basin. Thus Venetian merchants brought back to the city Near Eastern craftsmen and goods that had an immediate influence on the indigenous population, and eventually the rest of Europe. The Venetian Muslim community produced many splendid brass vessels with damascening (the art of encrusting gold, copper or silver wire onto the surface of a metal vessel), some of which are signed in Arabic by their makers.

Unlike their Northern European counterparts, the vessels were almost always engraved and inlaid with silver wire. The decoration was more extensive, often covering the entire surface of an object. The arabesque pattern, based upon a stylised plant with a winding stem, was studied and copied by contemporary Italian artists. By the middle of the 16th century, the arabesque as a form of ornament was beginning to influence craftsmen all over Europe, and became incorporated into the development of European ornamental design, until the decline of the Rococo in the late 18th century.