Page "Brass" Paragraph 62

Little is known about the production of brass during the centuries immediately after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

Disruption in the trade of tin for bronze from Western Europe may have contributed to the increasing popularity of brass in the east and by the 6th – 7th centuries AD over 90 % of copper alloy artefacts from Egypt were made of brass.

However other alloys such as low tin bronze were also used and they vary depending on local cultural attitudes, the purpose of the metal and access to zinc, especially between the Islamic and Byzantine world.

Conversely the use of true brass seems to have declined in Western Europe during this period in favour of gunmetals and other mixed alloys but by the end of the first Millennium AD brass artefacts are found in Scandinavian graves in Scotland, brass was being used in the manufacture of coins in Northumbria and there is archaeological and historical evidence for the production of brass in Germany and The Low Countries areas rich in calamine ore which would remain important centres of brass making throughout the medieval period, especially Dinant – brass objects are still collectively known as dinanterie in French.

The baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège in modern Belgium ( before 1117 ) is an outstanding masterpiece of Romanesque brass casting.