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Monumental brass
Unknown - Enlarge image
Monumental brass
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
ca. 1516 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Engraved brass
- Credit Line:
Given by Arthur G. Binns
- Museum number:
M.126-1922
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 58c, case WS
Object type
Brasses such as these were used to commemorate prominent local families and were usually set in the floor of their parish church.
Materials & Making
Brasses were cast in flat plates then cut to shape and engraved. The engraved lines were often filled with coloured composition to give them greater emphasis.
Subjects Depicted
The main inscribed brass reads: 'Of your charity pray for the soul of Henry Fayrey and Agnes his wife which lyeth buried under this stone, and the said Henry deceased the 28th Day of December 1516'. The main figures are all depicted wearing shrouds. The complete brass would have had an additional plate showing a group of daughters and four roundels.
Places
This group of monumental brasses came from a variety of different sources - some were acquired from a butcher in Derbyshire and others from London dealers. They all came originally from Dunstable Priory Church in Bedfordshire. The elements were probably widely scattered after destruction during the Reformation and the English Civil War of 1642-1646.
