Page 21 - Deydier UNDERSTANDING CHINESE ARCHAIC BRONZES

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.

Lost wax casting

This technique was first utilized in China around the 5 century B.C. in
th
the late Spring and Autumn 春秋 period. It consisted of:
1. Making a wax model on a brick-clay core of the same size as the
desired bronze vessel.

The decoration was then either carved by hand or stamp printed
with the aid of a matrix, which was usually the case for the repetitive
motifs of the Warring States 戰國 period (circa 475 – 221 B.C.).

2. Once the decoration was completed, the wax object was bathed,
once, in a small layer of liquid clay containing a resistant substance,
then in several more layers of regular clay which thus formed a
covering around the vessel.

3. On contact, the liquid bronze poured into the space between the
core and the outer clay covering caused the wax to melt and escape
through special openings left in the outer covering by the craftsman
and simultaneously filled the space left between the matrix and the
outer clay covering and took the form of the desired object.

4. After the metal cooled off, the mold around the bronze vessel was
broken off, freeing the bronze vessel, which was retouched and
manually finished wherever necessary.

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