Monumental Brass Society

Monumental Brass Society The website for the Society for those interested in any aspect of monumental brasses and incised slabs of all dates in all countries. In the medieval and early modern periods in particular, monumental brasses and incised slabs were popular forms of monuments or memorials used to cover the tombs of those buried inside churches. An incised slab is a flat memorial with an effigy of the deceased, a cross or other appropriate subject, with epitaph, cut directly into the stone; they originated before the Norman Conquest. A monumental brass, by contrast, is engraved on sheets of metal inlaid in matrices cut into the stone; they have been made in England from the thirteenth century to the present day. Both brasses and slabs were designed in a range of styles reflecting the general trends in art of their period. They can be studied from a variety of perspectives, including the artistic context and iconography of the monuments and the life, self-image and religious beliefs of those commemorated. Brasses and incised slabs are an interesting and absorbing study in their own right, but they also provide rich visual imagery for those interested in a range of other subjects.