Basin of St. George and a Dragon

This is a 16th century brass basin from Nuremberg depicting St. George slaying a dragon. Basins from Nuremberg are also known, in English, as alms dishes, rosewater dishes, christening bowls or simply bowls. Plain types of basins were used as serving vessels while larger, elaborate ones were finger washing dishes at high tables. The craftsmen skilled enough to create these receptacles were referred to as basin makers (Beckenmacher) or basin smiths (Beckschlager/Peckschlager). Beginning in 1490, a Nuremberg supervisory council known as the Rugamt (Crafts Council) oversaw the craft-related ordinances passed by the primary city council while also initially mediating disputes between master craftsmen. In order for the artists of Nuremberg to be considered masters of brass work creation, they had to present masterpieces in front of a group of council members called "the Five" (die Fünfherrn) and pledge that their works were their original creations.

Brass is produced by smelting calamine ore (for the zinc content), charcoal, and copper ore. The color of finished brass products results from the zinc content. A modest amount of zinc (seven to fourteen percent) produced a reddish color while a thirty percent content is more golden and becomes paler with greater proportions. German bronze and brass casters of the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance made products that were traditionally described as red casts (Rotguss) despite the majority of objects being a yellow color. Nuremberg foundries almost exclusively used bronze castings which helped to distinguish their works from the rest of the metalworking world. Before the second half of the fourteenth century, the German brass-casting industry concentrated in the north, particularly Lower Saxony, the area of modern Belgium, and the western region between the Meuse and Rhine rivers. At the time, Nuremberg did not possess the copper and calamine ore necessary for brass casting. The mid-fourteenth century development of trade in brass artistic exports would remedy this deficit and allow Nuremberg to rise as a hub of the Northern Renaissance.

"A late 15th/early 16th century brass plate, Nuremberg, circa 1500." Bohams. https://www.bonhams.com/auction/21835/lot/75/a-late-15thearly-16th-century-brass-plate-nuremberg-circa-1500/

Gadd, Jan A. "Brass Basins and Bowls from a Single Nuremberg Workshop, Around 1500-1580." Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, No. 16. Antique Metalware Society, 2008.

Gothic and Renaissance art in Nuremberg: 1300-1550. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986.

Theophilus, Presbyter. On Divers Arts: The Treatise of Theophilus. Edited by John G. Hawthorne. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.