Brass rubbing is the technique of making full-sized reproductions of the designs and inscriptions on monumental brasses. A reproduction made by this technique is known as a brass rubbing.
Monumental brasses are flat plates of brass, generally engraved with an inscription and an effigy of the person they commemorate. Most brasses are set in the stone floors of old churches and often cover graves. About 10,000 monumental brasses have survived in Britain, most of them in southern England.
The oldest surviving brass in Britain is in Stoke D’Abernon, in Surrey. It commemorates Sir John d’Aubernoun, who died in 1277. Few brasses have survived from the period between 1277 and 1350, but they include some of the largest and finest in Britain. Most brasses date from the period 1350 to 1650. Many are important examples of medieval art. They provide a valuable pictorial record of the noblemen, soldiers, clergy, and wealthy civilians of medieval society.
A large number of brasses, known as military brasses, have engravings of knights in armor, sometimes with their wives. They are a source of information about early armor and costume.
Several museums in the United Kingdom keep collections of brass rubbings as a record, and to help scholars and students of art and costume. They include the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum, in London; the Archaeological Museum, in Cambridge; and the Ashmolean Museum, in Oxford.
