Large Hammered Brass Wall Plaque of a Dentist with Patient. The dentist is examining the seated patient in a rustic interior, with the outer rim covered in shields and floral designs. Vintage, marked on back "Made in France" in English. After the work of David Teniers the Younger. 

Size: 21 X 27 1/4 X 2 1/2 in. 

#2737 . 

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 to 7th Centuries AD over 90% of copper alloy artifacts from Egypt were made of brass. The use of true brass seems to have declined in Western Europe during this period in favor of gunmetals and other mixed alloys, but key areas in Scotland, Germany, and modern-day Belgium remained important centers of brass making throughout the Middle Ages period, thanks to specific ore deposits they had access to. Latten is a term for Medieval alloys of uncertain and often variable composition covering decorative borders and similar objects cut from sheet metal, whether of brass or bronze. The Renaissance saw important changes to both the theory and practice of brass making in Europe, as newly designed lidded cementation crucibles were invented. These innovations led to a surge in artwork being created using the material, and etchings of images from popular paintings, such as scenes of peasant life by David Teniers, were commonly turned into bright ornate wall ornaments in the substance. 16th Century technical writers such as Biringuccio described a variety of cementation brass making techniques and came closer to understanding the true nature of the process, noting that copper became heavier as it changed to brass and that it became more golden as additional calamine was added. Eventually in the mid 17th Century it was discovered that metallic zinc could be alloyed with copper to make brass with scientific precision, a process known as speltering, which caused an explosion in the art world as the tools became radically cheaper to acquire and easier to manipulate. By the mid-to-late 18th Century industrial advances in the collection of zinc coupled with massive reductions on tariffs increased the popularity of speltering even further. There are still companies devoted to the creation of brass decorative arts, including some in France and England using original design plates that are hundreds of years old.