Lot Essay
The brasses are arranged by type and mounted on sheets of card according to the categories in the accompanying four-volume catalogue. They comprise over 400 arabesques, fleurons and similar ornaments; over 370 stylised or naturalistic flowers; over 800 coats-of-arms, crowns, medallion portraits, architectural and landscape scenes and other pictorial devices; over 300 solid borners, frames, ornamental panels and large corners in traditional, floral, and art nouveau styles; a large group of single, double and triple lines of various widths in assorted lengths; and further brasses for 55 or more composite borders.
The composite borders on average consist of between 50 and 200 separate pieces which can be assembled to produce a wide variety of designs for both borders and panels, and include: 12 to produce traditional arabesque and dentelle borders; 14 for narrow decorated linear borders; 10 for floral borders and fields, some stylised, others naturalistic; 12 typically nineteenth century borders; and 7 art nouveau borders, 2 in seccession style, one based on the Phil May typographical border and one particularly large set of pieces that forms a combination of floral and abstract linear designs (this particular border and several others with brasses to produce two-color work).
The composite borders on average consist of between 50 and 200 separate pieces which can be assembled to produce a wide variety of designs for both borders and panels, and include: 12 to produce traditional arabesque and dentelle borders; 14 for narrow decorated linear borders; 10 for floral borders and fields, some stylised, others naturalistic; 12 typically nineteenth century borders; and 7 art nouveau borders, 2 in seccession style, one based on the Phil May typographical border and one particularly large set of pieces that forms a combination of floral and abstract linear designs (this particular border and several others with brasses to produce two-color work).