Book Illustration, Birmingham Brass Catalog, Ornaments with Spikes, plate 50

England emerged as a center of brassworks during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), as French metalworkers emigrated en masse to the industrial centers of England, bringing their expertise with them. Pattern books such as this one show the ingenious variety of products cast at English brassworks. This sort of trade literature rarely includes a maker’s name or date; the founders who sold to wholesalers did not want to disclose their suppliers for fear of upsetting their trade relationships with foundries. Anonymity also protected them from becoming vulnerable to competitors.