Dish with coat of arms ‘Lima and Madeira’

Silver, parcel gilt
Portugal late 16th century
Diameter: 42.3 cm, weight: 1726 g

A Portuguese dish of similar form, size and ornament, attributed to the second half of the 16th century, is illustrated in Reynaldo and Irene Dos Santos, Ouriversaria Portuguesa..., Lisbon, 1960, Vol. II. p. 29.

This was in a collection in the Portuguese town of Viana do Castelo on the Lima river, which is very close to a number of 16th-century Abreu e Lima family houses such as Casa do Outeiro and the Casa do Ameal.