Brass in ancient and medieval times. Contribution to the history of material culture

Abstract

Brass was obtained in present-day India during the early Iron Age. Although zinc was distilled in the mines in Zawar (India) as early as in the 9^th c. CE, the method only influenced European brass-smelting in mid-18^th c. In ancient Europe, copper zinc alloys were produced by combining copper with calamine (zinc ores): hemimorphite or smithsonite (zinc spar). During the early days of the Roman Empire, cadmia, i.e. zinc oxide found on the walls of furnaces used for smelting ores containing the metal, was also employed for the purpose. The method, called cementation and believed to rely on refining copper, remained the only one practiced in Europe until the end of the 18^th century.

As a sculptural material, brass did not become popular in Europe until the Middle Ages. The Meuse basin, where ancient traditions were continued in the workshops of Dinant, Givet, Liège or Cologne, played a major part in the process, and production developed with the birth of the Frankish Empire. Beside major manufactures, local production also developed; for instance, evidence of brass production in Kruszwica, Poland, dates back to mid-11^th c. The main source of data on the production and processing of medieval brass is Diversarum Artium Schedula, a treatise complied by Theophilus Presbyter, which describes two types of alloys: aes (leaded brass) and auricalcum. The properties of these alloys were consciously selected to suit individual purposes.