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Brass rubbing is a technique to reproduce exactly the engraving on a monumental brass. Rubbings are made by carefully pressing paper onto a carved or incised surface so that the paper conforms to features to be copied. The paper is then blacked and the projecting areas of the surface become dark, while indented areas remain white. In Europe the technique of rubbing is almost exclusively applied to monumental brasses. Monumental brasses are usually figures, inscriptions, shields or other devices, engraved in plate brass and laid as memorials. Brasses originated in Europe where they first appeared in the thirteenth century. Brasses in churches are an important source of heraldic information. It was formerly a custom to put a brass over the grave slab, and on this would be shown a figure of the deceased with his armorial bearings. The Bernard Brenner Brass Rubbings Collection, donated in 1996, consists of 157 brass rubbings from churches located throughout England. For additional information about the Bernard Brenner Brass Rubbings Collection, please consult SC&A staff. Special Collections
& Archives (SC&A) preserves and makes available to all students,
faculty, and researchers many kinds of original and scholarly materials.
Subject areas in SC&A include Northern Virginiana, Planned Communities,
Congressional Papers, Performing Arts, Maps, the Civil War, and George
Mason University. Formats in SC&A include manuscripts, rare
books, playbills, musical scores, audio and videotapes, architectural
drawings, photographs, and slides. |
