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 medallion in the centre of this dish is the winged ox, one of the apocalyptic beasts and an attribute of St. Luke, one of the four evangelists. He accompanied St Paul on his missions to Greece and Rome and was said to have preached in Egypt and Greece after the death of Paul.

The production of brass bowls was centred in Nuremberg, from where this dish may have originated, though it was not the only place to produce brass pieces of this sort. Other centres of brass production were Dinant in Flanders and its surrounding area, 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.