Page 26 - Deydier VOL.2 Meiyintang Collection of Chinese Bronses

Casting Techniques

Scientific archeological excavations undertaken between 1928 and 1938 at
the site of the ancient Shang royal cemetery in present-day Anyang in Henan
province and later at sites at Zhengzhou, Erligang and Panlongcheng, all three
of which date to the end of the Xia dynasty (21 – 16 centuries bc.), revealed
st
th
the existence of fragments of grey terracotta molds used during the casting of
bronze vessels.

These discoveries proved beyond a doubt that in the beginning of bronze
production in ancient china, bronzes were produced by multi-mold casting,
and not by the lost wax process, as specialists had previously believed.

Multi-mould casting
The fragments of molds found at the above-mentioned sites enabled the
archeologists of the Academia Sinica led by Prof. Li Ji to establish with
precision the different steps taken by the artisans of the Shang and Zhou
dynasties in the production of a bronze vessel:

1. First a matrix of the desired vessel was made in terracotta. The terracotta
matrix was an exact copy of the final product, bearing the same degree of
fineness and beauty of decoration desired for the bronze vessel.
2. The matrix was then completely covered over with fine thin layers of clay
to a thickness of 15 mm, which would eventually serve as the negative.
3. After baking, the negative was cut off in pieces, which would then become
the parts of the mold.
4. These parts were then assembled and set in a tub or tray of sand.
5. Then a plain inner core was made and surrounded by the pieces of the
mold, which were placed in such a way as to leave an empty space of
from 5 to 15 mm between the core and the assembled pieces of the mold
surrounding it.
6. Finally, hot liquid bronze was poured into the space between the core and
the assembled mold.

After cooling off, the bronze vessel, which was usually cast upside-down, was
removed from the mold.

On many bronze vessels mold marks or seams can be detected on a close
inspection of the piece, but on pieces of the highest quality, such marks are
barely perceptible, since they are often located at the junctions where the
vertical lines of the vessel join.

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