German, Augsburg, circa 1560-1580

Overall the condition of the copper is excellent. There is some wear consistent with age and handling.
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The scene on the front of this plate is based on the fifth of a series of twelve engravings by Dirck Volkhertsz Coornhert after designs by Maarten van Heemskerck.  The set of engravings, titled The Victories of Charles V, was produced in 1555-1556 and first published by Hieronymous Cock in Antwerp in 1556.The same Latin hexameter verse appears under the Coonhert engravings, and may be translated as: Vienna in Austria besieged by the Turks and liberated; in Pannonia the Emperor destroyed the Turk cruelly raging, relieving Vienna from her harsh siege.  The Old German verse under the Latin inscription may be freely translated: Vienna in Austria, besieged and cut-off by the Turks who surrounded it in great strength, was relieved by the Emperor Charles who risked life and limb to put them to flight.  No such German verse appears on the set of engravings, which instead have similar rhyming texts in French and Spanish. 

Under Suleiman the Magnificent, a large Turkish army had besieged Vienna in 1529.  The Turks lifted the siege after a short time but returned three years later, when Charles V and his army confronted and defeated them.  It is interesting that the Turks' initial withdrawal from Vienna in 1529, rather than their subsequent military defeat in 1532, is depicted as plate V of the series.  Charles's brother Ferdinand appears with the Emperor (who was not present in 1529) in the left foreground.  A fallen Turkish soldier is being trampled beneath the Emperor's horse, while in the background the Sultan and his troops can be seen.  The scene depicts Charles in his most Roman all'antica image.
The triumphs of the Emperor were fitting subjects for sets of circular plates of this size which were used for spiced and sugared fruit during the dessert, or "banquet" conclusion of a meal.  Guests would retire to decorative pavilions, usually sited to give a "prospect", either on a hill or by a river or even on the roof of a house.

Only a handful of sets of silver spice plates have survived, one of the most notable being the set of twelve bearing Strasbourg marks in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is contemporary with this example.  The custom of "banquetting" was not however confined to the aristocracy, and wealthy city merchants and lesser landowners used spice plates made of painted beech or sycamore, or "counterfeit" plates made of gilt pewter or, as in the present example, copper.  Ironically, though, while a handful of sets of silver plates have survived, and some wooden examples, this gilt-copper example could be unique.

RELATED LITERATURE
I. J. Veldman, The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1451-C1700: Maarten van Heemskerck, Part II, (Rosendaal, 1994), nos. 524 , Plate V is no. 528; B. Rosier, "The Victories of Charles V: A series of prints by Maarten van Heemskerck 1555 C56", Simiolus, vol. XX, no. 1 1990-1991, pp. 24-38;  P. Glanville, Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England, London, 1990, p. 215.; C. Oman, English Engraved Silver 1150-1900, London, 1978, p. 37