Plate

Deeply embossed scrollwork relief fills the center of this small plate, and tiny repoussé figures of late Gothic wild men and animals amid foliage appear in a hunting scene on the rim. The lavish decoration of this plate is characteristic of a group of Portguese plates and vessels of the fifteenth century, and reflect the general tendency of this period of toward abandoning simple motifs in favor of more elaborate and complicated designs. Later Portuguese examples generally depict scenes of a more classical nature such as the history of Troy. Larger dishes of this type were intended to be used as basins made as sets with equally sumptuous ewers, but the small size of this example precludes such a possibility. So small a plate, called a salva in Portuguese, would hardly have been intended for regular service use at the table, although it might, on special occasions, have served as a dish for a few choice pieces of fruit.