Page 230 - China's Renaissance in Bronze, The Robert H.CIague Collection of Later Chinese Bronzes 1100-1900

Notes surfaces could be further defined and sharpened
be corrected
and
(an
minor flaws could
advantage
not possible with lost-wax casting). After all of the
mold pieces had been prepared, dried, and fired,
they were fitted together around a solid core, or
inner mold, and molten bronze poured into the
space between. For information on piece-mold cast-
ing, see Noel Barnard, Bronze Casting and Bronze
Alloys in Ancient China, Canberra: The Australian
National University and Tokyo: Monumenta Serica,
Introduction 1961; W. Thomas Chase with the assistance of Jung
1.'Bronze' is used as a generic term in this study to May Lee, Ancient Chinese Bronze Art: Casting the
refer to a variety of copper-based metals, from Precious Sacral Vessel, New York: China Institute
copper itself to brass (an alloy of copper and zinc) in America, 1991; Rutherford John Gettens, The
to traditional bronze (an alloy of copper and tin). Freer Chinese Bronzes, volume 2: Technical Studies,
Since a variety of copper-based metals was used Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, Freer
in the later 'bronze' tradition and since scientific Gallery of Art, Oriental Studies Number 7, 1969.
identification of all the alloys represented in the 4. Iron was used at least from the fifth century
Clague Collection was not possible, the use of BC onward, side by side with bronze, but for dif-
'bronze' as a generic term seems more objective ferent purposes.
than attempts at specific identifications of varied 5. Buddhism arose in northern India and spread
metals by sight that might later prove incorrect across Asia, reaching China at least by the mid-first
and thus, in the interim, misleading. On the positive century AD; growing slowly at first, the Buddhist
side, the creation of similar, even identical, shapes church expanded rapidly after the fall of Han.
and decorative styles in different metals justifies 6. Such philosophical speculation gave rise to the
the use of 'bronze' as a generic term. In fact, it quintessential^ Chinese philosophies of Confucianism,
should be pointed out that some workshops - that Daoism,and Legalism, among others; those specu-
of Hu Wenming, for example - used a variety of lations had less to do with metaphysics than with
metals, but fashioned them into objects of related the proper role of human beings in nature on the
style. In those instances where the metal is clearly one hand (Daoism) and in society on the other
copper [12, 41], the material is so identified. (Confucianism, Legalism).
2. Later Chinese bronzes were cast through the 7. For information on rise of Buddhism and the
lost-wax, or cire-perdu, process. In creating such growth of the Buddhist church in China, see Arthur
vessels, a solid core, or inner mold, was made of F. Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History, Stanford
clay, the core corresponding in size and shape to CA: Stanford University Press and London: Oxford
the vessel's interior hollow. After drying and firing, University Press, 1959; E. Zurcher, The Buddhist
the core was fully coated with wax, in which all of the Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of
vessel's decorative surface details were meticulously Buddhism in Early Medieval China, Leiden: E.J. Brill,
worked. Layer after layer of fine clay was then 1959, 2 volumes; Kenneth K.S. Ch'en, Buddhism in
applied over the wax, forming the outer casting China: A Historical Survey, Princeton NJ: Princeton
mold. The finished mold was heated to prepare it University Press, 1964; Kenneth K.S. Ch'en, The
to receive the molten metal which would occupy Chinese Transformation of Buddhism, Princeton
the spaces vacated by the melted (or 'lost') wax. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.
After cooling, the mold was removed, revealing 8. For information on the Silk Route and the
the vessel. Apparently introduced in the late Zhou, luxury goods it brought, see Ryoichi Hayashi, The
the lost-wax process existed side-by-side with the Silk Route and the Shoso-in, volume 6 in The
piece-mold technique, gradually replacing it by Heibonsha Survey of Japanese Art, New York and
the Six Dynasties, so that virtually all post-Han Tokyo: Weatherhill/Heibonsha, 1966 and 1975
bronzes, whether Buddhist images or secular (translated by Robert Ricketts); Jessica Rawson,
vessels, were cast by the lost-wax process. Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon,
3. Archaic Chinese bronzes were cast through London: British Museum Publications, 1984; Edward
the piece-mold technique, a difficult and compli- H. Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A
cated process that, if mastered, yields superior Study of Tang Exotics, Berkeley: University of
results. In creating piece-mold-cast vessels, a solid California Press, 1963.
model of the vessel was first fashioned in clay; all 9. See Robert Poor, 'Notes on the Sung Dynasty
of the exterior surface details were then carefully Archaeological Catalogs,' Archives of the Chinese
worked on the surface of the model, after which it Art Society of America (now, Archives of Asian
was dried and fired. The outer casting mold was pre- Art) (New York), volume 19, 1965, 33-44.
pared in sections by pressing moist clay against the 10. Archaism began to play a role in Chinese
solid model; after the mold sections had been re- painting in the late Northern Song, as attested by
moved from the model, the impressions on their inner the landscape handscroll by Wang Ximeng (1096-

230 10 C H I N A ' S R E N A I S S A N C E IN B R O N Z E