Northern European brass basins dating from the 15th century adopted a form that had been popular since medieval times, with a small diameter and deep sides. The whole of the bottom of the inside of these basins was covered with relief decoration. The subject matter usually fell into one of three categories: scenes from classical antiquity, themes from the Old or New Testaments, or allegorical figures personifying vices and virtues.

The subject depicted here is Samson slaying the lion. Samson was one of the Old Testament judges. Although his term of office lasted twenty years, none of his judicial acts is recorded. He emerges more as a swashbuckling adventurer of great physical strength and a womaniser who, however, succumbs to female blandishment. The story of Samson slaying the lion is told in the book of Judges 14: 5-9. Like Hercules, Samson displayed his superhuman strength by slaying a lion with his bare hands. He is usually depicted astride the lion or with foot or knee in its back, grasping its jaws in his hands and forcing them apart. Combat with a single adversary was a subject that naturally tended to acquire a symbolic meaning. This instance was interpreted by the medieval Church as the struggle of Christ against the devil.

Brass dishes that were exported to Britain were sometimes used as alms dishes. Elsewhere their function was primarily secular, even if their iconography was principally religious. European paintings of domestic interiors show that they were frequently used in conjunction with lavabos (basins) 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.

Centres of brass production in late medieval Europe tended to be situated close to plentiful sources of calamine, the carbonate of zinc that, when smelted with copper, produced brass alloy. The brass industry in northern Europe was concentrated between the Meuse and Rhine rivers, where the most important deposits of calamine lay. The main centres of production were the Attenberg and Holberg mines, both near Aachen, and the Kornelimünster and Gressenich, which lie between Givet and Liège. The two latter mines were the principal sources of supply for the town of Dinant, which was the biggest centre of brass production until the town was sacked by the Duke of Burgundy in 1466. Brass production in Nuremberg and Aachen henceforth assumed greater importance, while refugee brassworkers found their way to neighbouring towns such as Brussels, Namur and Malines.