Chats on Old Copper and Brass

by Fred. W. Burgess

The City Companies have long ceased to exercise active control over individual craftsmen; some would say that trade unions have taken their place, and others would point to the altered conditions of manufacture and of trade which exist now. None can deny, however, that the influence of those early pioneers is still felt, and the basis which they laid down as the art of the later period of English craftsmanship, amongst which we find the greater number of our collectable curios, remains to-day the foundation on which modern developments are built up. The Braziers' Company was once an important guild in connection with metal. Many years ago the Braziers joined the Armourers, claiming, however, a monopoly of all copper and brasswork. By an Authority received from James II the members of the Braziers' Company were granted the right to search and prove all copper and brasswork wrought with a hammer within the City of London. It is said that their Charter is still in force, although their rights and privileges are now sinecures. Few members of the old City companies have now any direct connection with the crafts with which their names are associated. They exist, however, and use some of the funds at their disposal for the encouragement and development of the modern crafts which have evolved from the older foundations with which they were associated. Now and then important exhibitions are held at which examples of the old and the new are shown, not always redounding to the credit of the antique. Some few years ago a very interesting competitive exhibition was held at Ironmongers' Hall at the instigation of the Worshipful Company of Founders, by whom prizes were given for artistic metal-work made by living craftsmen who had studied antique metal-work and had caught somewhat of the spirit of the old artists in copper and brass. The competition was keen and many of the exhibits very beautiful. The winner of the first prize had modelled a goat from life. The second prize went to the modeller of a calf which was cast in bronze; the third prize being awarded for a splendidly modelled lioness. In another division prizes were given for bells; the first prize was awarded to the founder of a church bell cast in loam, and the second prize to the designer and founder of a bell on which were exceedingly well-modelled representations of the Resurrection. In all these examples the influence of the antique was very conspicuous.

FIG. 13.—COPPER VANE ON BILLINGSGATE FISH MARKET.
FIG. 14.—THE CITY DRAGON AS A WEATHER-VANE.
FIG. 15.—COPPER COCK VANE, ONE OF FOUR ON SMITHFIELD MARKET.

The impetus which has been given to modern copper smithing by the Arts and Crafts Society through its exhibitions has given quite a different conception of the art from that which was formerly held. Instead of being a common craft, working in copper and brass has become one of the fine arts, a hobby much practised, and the results appreciated. The late William Morris, at one time President of the Society, and Walter Crane, artists of no mean order, exerted a great influence on the work of exhibitors. They have raised the tone of the work done by amateurs and have been the means of guiding modern workers in these metals in their efforts to reproduce the antique. Curios and antiques have served a double purpose associated with crafts such as those under review, as they give the present-day artist the foundations upon which to work. They give them evidence of styles and designs which have prevailed in the past and models upon which to build the art of the future. Briefly, among the best works of to-day fashioned on the arts and crafts of the coppersmiths of old are the beautiful metal dogs and fire-hearth appointments. There are the copper grilles, exquisite in design and useful for many purposes; copper lanterns and brass lamps of great variety; copper candlesticks, as well as the beaten metal candelabra and electroliers, also overmantel panels and beaten copper roundels, all worthy objects for the craftsmen of the present day to follow. Perhaps the most elaborate productions based on the antique are the ecclesiastical brasses of which there is ample choice in the old brasswork in so many cathedrals and parish churches.

Architectural Metal-Work.

Many years ago architects not only designed the main fabric and supervised the building of houses, such as those incidentally referred to being erected in the days of Queen Anne, but they were deeply interested in the metal-work which acted as exterior ornamentation, and to a large extent contributed to the beauty of their architectural designs. After the Great Fire of London swept away so much of the ancient residential portion of the old city, and took with it the Gothic and early mediæval churches, there was a great revival in building operations. Sir Christopher Wren and his fellow-workers put up more than sixty new churches within the City, and although to some extent the contour of the old streets was observed, the newer buildings must have presented an astonishing transformation scene, for from the few old relics left of London before the Fire we can form some slight idea of what the City must have looked like then.

The collector of copper and brass takes an interest in metal-work other than that which he can collect, and admires works of art with which the architects of olden times enriched their chief buildings. It is true a considerable portion of the exterior metal-work attached to the freehold, and of the gates and palasades surrounding the more important erections, are of iron. There are enough examples of copper-work, however, to show us the skill of the old craftsmen who worked on years after the Charter granted by James II to the Braziers' Company had become a dead letter. One of the most conspicuous and at the same time decorative examples of copper-work on the loftier buildings is found in the weather-vanes, which were sometimes gilt, at others painted. In the earlier days the emblems selected had some bearing on the ownership of the building or the purposes for which it was to be used. There were well-known rules, too, governing the type of weather-vane. These are recognizable in the older examples. They have been neglected, however, in later years, and the nondescript designs chosen by builders and modelled according to the whim of the designer at the present day show little regard for the principles laid down by those early builders and metal-workers. The etiquette of the weather-vane was simple enough to observe. On towers, castles, and secular buildings a banner was the correct device, whereas on ecclesiastical edifices it was the barn-door fowl. It is said by an old authority that the cock was the emblem of clerical vigilance, not unassociated with the Biblical story of St. Peter; others more sceptical as to the origin tell us that the large tail of the barn-door fowl was well suited to turn truly to the wind. From these simple principles evolved established rules which ordered that the coat-of-arms or crest of the owner of a building should be incorporated in the design of the weather-vane, and on ecclesiastical buildings the symbol of the patron saint was to take the place of the weather-cock. As typical examples to be seen in London streets the weather-vanes on the four turrets of the White Tower of the Tower fly the Royal Arms in the form of miniature Royal Standards. In Tudor days the emblem was usually represented sitting on a slender pedestal, carrying an upright rod on which the flag or decorated plate of metal which acted as the weather-vane was attached. In the accompanying illustrations three types of symbolical weather-vanes are shown. Fig. 13 represents one of the copper vanes on Billingsgate Fish Market, symbolical of the occupation of those who frequent that famous mart. In Fig. 14 is seen the fabled dragon of the City of London, and in Fig. 15 the copper cock vane, one of the four fixed over Smithfield Market.

There are many ecclesiastical emblems visible during a morning stroll through the streets of London. Among those readily seen are the key vane on St. Peter's, Cornhill, and the emblematic gridiron on St. Lawrence's Church. On St. Michael's Church, Queenhithe, there is a copper ship, the hull of which holds just one bushel of grain. This vane is interesting in that the emblem has reference to Queenhithe, once a famous wharf, rather than to the patron saint. The Hithe is interesting in its old associations, in that the tolls of that wharf were given to Queen Eleanor by Henry II as pin money, subsequent queens of England collecting the revenue for their personal use. The grasshopper on the Royal Exchange is the same vane that surmounted the more ancient building which preceded the one now standing. The grasshopper was the crest of Sir Thomas Gresham, by whom the first Exchange was built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This vane, also of copper, is fully 11 ft. in length, and in miniature was reproduced as the sign of the banking house in Lombard Street kept by Sir Thomas Gresham.