Double Handled Serving Platter

This is a lovely serving dish/platter given to me by my grandmother, who rescued it from the rubbish pile back in the 1940's.  She never knew what it was called, or what the original purpose was, but when she found it, it was caked with lye soap and she believed it was used to hold the laundry soap.

I am just wanting to know the age of this dish and what it's purpose is.  It's always held a position of honor in her china cabinet, and I promised that I would take care of it.

It appears that the pansies are hand-painted and it had a gold-painted rim all the way around that has mostly worn off.