Chinese Art-Asian Antiques News This Week

Bidamount News August `14, 2026, Vol 643

A Review of the History of Research in Lost-Wax Casting in Bronze Age China Over the Past Century

Author links open overlay panelYang Huan

, Du JingnanShow moreAdd to MendeleyShareCite

Under a Creative Commons license

Open access

Abstract

This study analyzes in detail the last century of scholarly study, in China and internationally, into China's Bronze Age lost-wax casting techniques. It finds that research beginning in the early twentieth century has differentiated five lost-wax casting research periods, linked to different research methods and new archaeological discoveries of bronzes and casting relics. The methods that can be identified with a particular research period are: complete lost-wax (before 1931); semi lost-wax (1931–1959); complete piece-mold (1960–1977); both casting technologies (1978–2018); hollowed lost-wax (after 2019). Research shows that piece-mold casting was the dominant casting technology in the territories of the Shang and Zhou dynasty (before 221 BC) kings, but craftspeople used lost-wax casting skillfully at the latest in the Qin dynasty (before 210 BC). Lost-wax artifacts influenced by other cultures are occasionally seen in the border areas of the Shang and Zhou kingdoms. Research on organic constituents in the clay cores of hollowed lost-wax artifacts may provide a definite answer to this question.

Bronze was initially used around 3000 BC. From then on, the most widely used bronze casting technique worldwide was lost-wax casting. Around 2000 BC, Chinese craftsmen began to cast bronzes using the piece-mold method, beginning China's Bronze Age, which was mainly characterized by piece-mold casting of bronze vessels. Unlike in other civilizations, bronze vessels played a vital role in the pre-Qin period as a symbol of the nation in China. Bronzes in China were essential, precious resources used in sacrificial rites and wars, according to a quote from The Chronicle of Zuo (国之大事, 在祀与戎): “The core missions of a country are focused on sacrificial rites and wars” (Yang 2009).

K. C. Chang (Zhang Guangzhi) once suggested that the capitals of the Shang and Zhou kingdoms (before 221 BC) were moved so they would be closer to sources of copper raw materials. In the pre-Qin period, “bronzes represented political power” (Chang 2014). Bronzes in the Shang and Zhou periods had unique status, so their study can provide a more comprehensive understanding of ancient society.

Analysis of casting techniques is important to the study of ancient bronzes. Data show that bronze vessels in the Shang and Zhou dynasties were cast using piece-mold casting, with the clay molds unearthed from many bronze foundries supporting this assertion. There has long been controversy about whether lost-wax casting existed in Bronze Age China. Many groups of important bronzes were unearthed in China in the early twentieth century. Scholars, particularly in Europe and North America, began to investigate Chinese bronze casting techniques as these bronzes entered international collections. Since Walter Perceval Yetts demonstrated that Chinese Shang and Zhou bronzes were cast using lost-wax casting in 1928, academia has studied and discussed this issue for almost 100 years. With the discovery of new materials and the emergence of new analytical techniques and research methods, the research in each different period presents its own characteristics. To date, however, there has been no consensus on the use of lost-wax casting in early China.

To find out why the controversy over the use of lost-wax casting in Bronze Age China persists, this paper reviews the history of research on lost-wax casting carried out in China and internationally, including a brief introduction to the processes of both lost-wax casting and piece-mold casting used in China. Clarifying the research history not only offers an understanding of the research process into lost-wax casting in China but also explores the development of lost-wax casting and its regional features in early China. Finally, this paper summarizes the characteristics and periods of research into lost-wax casting in China's Bronze Age and explores future research directions.

Two Metal Casting Processes and Techniques Worldwide

Lost-Wax Casting

Lost-wax casting was used in most parts of the world in the Bronze Age. This method uses wax as a model, which melts away after a heating process (Figure 1; Hemingway 2004). The lost-wax casting process can be divided into four steps: wax modeling (a layer of wax over a clay core); mold making (clay applied to the outer layer of a wax model to form a mold); lost-wax (wax melting away with heating); casting (molten bronze poured to fill the cavity left by the wax model; Fairbank 1962).

Lost-wax casting of bronze has a long history of development and was used in many civilizations around the world throughout history. Its basic processes and techniques have not changed since it was first developed and spread in the West (Kissi 2011; Wan 1989). Lost-wax casting includes the direct lost-wax method and the indirect lost-wax method, using different wax modeling techniques. The fundamental difference between the two is that the wax model of the direct lost-wax technique is made individually by a craftsman, while the wax model of the indirect lost-wax technique is made by craftsmen with a master pattern.

Piece-Mold Casting

Piece-mold casting was the most widely used casting technique in Bronze Age China. A stone mold unearthed at the Huoshaogou site, Yumen, Gansu, represents the early stage of mold casting (Liu and Li 2008), with clay molds and metal molds being developed subsequently. In this paper, the term piece-mold method refers to clay mold casting, due to its dominant position during almost all of China's Bronze Age. As demonstrated by the piece-mold diagram of a square ding in Figure 2, clay is used to make a model, mold segments encase the model, and bronze is cast into the space between the molds and the core. Wilma Fairbank believed that “such a progressive and diverse piece-mold method has never been applied anywhere in the world, except in China” (Chase 1991). Bagley suggested that the piece-mold method was adopted in the Xia and Shang dynasties (before 1046 BC) in China. The bronzes of the Shang dynasty would have had a different appearance if the craftspeople at that time had used the lost-wax method instead (Bagley 1990).

Two casting techniques in the Bronze Age were important to human civilization. As the study of ancient casting has developed in depth, scholars have gained a better understanding of communications between civilizations. Some scholars have already suggested that, to a large extent, China's early bronze technology was influenced by other civilizations (Mei 2001; Rawson 2017). The question of whether the lost-wax technique was introduced into China from other regions has long attracted academic attention.

The History of Research on Lost-Wax Casting Technology in China

The casting technology of Chinese bronzes has been a subject of research since scholars began to pay attention to these objects. Along with the discovery of new bronzes and the use of new analytical techniques, understanding of bronze technology has been gradually updated. There are two opposing viewpoints: one is in favor of the existence of the lost-wax method in Bronze Age China; the other goes against it. This paper reviews the relevant studies in chronological order and summarizes the history of research on the lost-wax method in China.

Before 1931: Complete Lost-Wax Casting Research Period

From the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century, several groups of bronzes were unearthed in China. Some of these items were moved into private collections and others were gradually shipped overseas. Foreign scholars wrote more than 40 books on these bronzes. Famous ones include Tokyo Imperial Museum (now Tokyo National Museum), Imperial Museum Appreciation of Ancient Bronzes (1906; 帝室博物馆鉴赏录•古铜器); Tajima Shiiji, Chinese Ancient Bronze Ware Collection (1910; 田岛志一:支那古铜器集); Hamada Kosaku, Illustrated Catalogue of the Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum (1919; 滨田耕作: 泉屋清赏); W. P. Yetts, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection (1929; 叶兹: 猷氏集古录) and The Cull Chinese Bronzes (1939, 柯尔中国铜器集); Umehara Sueji, Chinese Bronzes in Occident (1933–1935; 梅原末治: 欧米蒐诸支那古铜器精华); W. C. White, The Study of Ancient Tombs in Ancient Luoyang Proper (1934; 怀履光:洛阳故都古墓考); and Umehara Moji, Ancient Tomb in Jin Village, Luoyang (1937), Heritage Treasure in Anyang, Henan (1940), Selected Specimens of the Chinese Bronze Collection of the Hakkaku Art Museum (1941), and Illustrated Catalogue of the Nezu Collection (1942; 梅原末治: 洛阳金村古墓聚英, 河南安阳遗宝, 白鹤吉金撰集, 青山庄清赏).

Chinese bronzes were favored by connoisseurs at the time for their graceful shapes, while the casting technique attracted attention from academics (Feng 2016). Before 1931, when the exploration of bronze casting technology in China was still in its infancy, most foreign scholars believed that Chinese bronze was cast using the lost-wax technique. They were in an academic atmosphere that was already familiar with the lost-wax method, so they believed the exquisite workmanship and intricate decorations of Chinese bronzes could not have been achieved without the lost-wax method. Yetts argued that Chinese bronzes were made by lost-wax casting and speculated that a white clay pot in the Victoria and Albert Museum was the master pattern used in the indirect lost-wax technique and that pattern lines on the bronze were the markings on the wax model (Yetts 1929). During this period, foreign scholars’ knowledge of Chinese bronze techniques was still in its infancy. They did not have an understanding of piece-mold casting and were highly supportive of lost-wax casting, so they came to the conclusion that Chinese Shang and Zhou dynasty bronzes were made using the lost-wax technique. We call this period the complete lost-wax research period.

1931–1959. Semi Lost-Wax Casting Research Period

In the spring of 1931, a large number of clay molds were discovered in the Yi fifth base site of Xiaotun Yi District (called the Yiwujizhi) during the fourth excavation of the Yinxu site (the Ruins of Yin). Scholars believed these clay molds were used for casting bronze objects (Shih 1976). Against this background, academia had a new understanding of Chinese bronze casting techniques. Many important articles were published in this period. They included “Anyang Moulds” by C. O. Karlbeck (1935), “Study on Bronze Metallurgy in Yin Dynasty” by Liu Yuxia, and “Bronze Casting Technology of Yin Dynasty” by Shi Zhangru (1955). These articles provided a preliminary study of the casting techniques of ancient Chinese bronzes, and it was concluded that bronzes of the late Shang dynasty were made using clay molds. Liu Yuxia also made a preliminary study on the copper smelting and casting processes at that time according to relevant relics unearthed at the Yinxu site (Liu 1933; Shih 1955). Karlbeck drew the prescient conclusion that there was no lost-wax method in the Shang dynasty, but this view attracted little notice at the time (Karlbeck 1935).

The view of the “complete lost-wax method” held by scholars before 1931 was challenged by the finds of clay molds and the idea of using the piece-mold casting technique to make Chinese bronzes. Despite the fact that some scholars still favored the lost-wax technique, there were some compromises regarding the use of the piece-mold technique. H. Maryon, H. J. Plenderleith, and other scholars suggested that Chinese bronzes were made by combining the lost-wax technique and the piece-mold method—that is, wax was used to make a model while clay was used as a mold. Scholars held this view mainly for the following reasons: First, they knew little about the piece-mold casting process. Second, clear evidence of the piece-mold technique was provided by the finds of clay molds in Anyang. Nevertheless, clay models had not been found in Anyang or mentioned in the studies of Liu Yuxia et al. Thirdly, scholars thought that Chinese bronzes were too high in quality to have been cast using a method other than the lost-wax technique. On the basis of the above knowledge, scholars restored the production process of Shang and Zhou bronzes by using the combined technology of the lost-wax method and the piece-mold method. They first made the upper and lower clay cores, affixed wax to the cores as a model, and then made piece-molds, one-quarter vertical and one-third horizontal, on the wax model (Maryon and Plenderleith 1954).

This process of making clay molds after the wax model was deduced from the sectioned master pattern technique in the indirect lost-wax method. Although it could have reproduced the Shang and Zhou bronzes, it is contrary to the results of the current study. Scholars at the time could not escape reliance on the lost-wax method. The perception of Chinese bronze casting still needs to be corrected on the basis of further evidence. We call this time the research period of the semi lost-wax technique using a clay mold and a wax model.

1960–1977: Complete Piece-Mold Casting Research Period

In 1960 tens of thousands of clay molds and models were discovered at Niucun at the Houma foundry site (SXPIA 1993). The types and patterns of most clay molds and hundreds of clay models are highly consistent with the bronzes unearthed in the same period (Yang, 2012). Hence scholars began to argue for the use of a complete piece-mold method rather than the lost-wax method to cast ancient Chinese bronzes. During this period, domestic and overseas scholars conducted a comprehensive and detailed investigation into the Chinese bronze casting process, focusing on clay models and molds unearthed from the sites of Anyang and Houma. In 1961 N. Barnard published the book Bronze Casting and Bronze Alloys in Ancient China, providing a comprehensive and detailed description of the piece-mold casting process. He suggests that the ancient Chinese piece-mold casting technique was an indigenous invention and that the lost-wax method was introduced from the West via India in the first century AD (Barnard 1961).

Wilma Fairbank believed in the absence of the lost-wax method in ancient China. “The application and development of the piece mold technique indicates that the lost wax technique had not been used in ancient China, and that piece mold was not required in the process of the lost wax casting,” she wrote. “It is difficult to imagine why the Chinese designed various intricate methods to divide the molds for the bronze casting with complex structure and exquisite patterns, even if they used the lost wax technique in ancient times” (Bagley 1990). Essentially, Fairbank's account is in agreement with Barnard's analysis of the use of the lost-wax method in Chinese bronzes.

Bronze ritual vessels discovered in the Yin Ruins were studied by Li Chi and Wan Jiabao in a scientific research series, including restoration experiments, revealing that bronze vessels of the Shang dynasty were cast using piece-mold casting (Li and Wan 1964). Using the most advanced physical and chemical detection at that time, the Freer Art Museum carried out scientific research on Chinese bronzes in its collection in terms of casting technique, connecting technique, composition of the objects, inscriptions, and so on. Based on X-ray photographs of the objects, the Chinese Shang and Zhou bronze vessels were again proved to be cast using the piece-mold method (Gettens 1969).

During this period, there were many viewpoints, but many of them were unconvincing. For example, Zhang Zigao's view of the casting of the Siyangfangzun (a famous Shang dynasty rectangular zun with four sheep heads, one in each corner) with the lost-wax technique was later rejected (Zhang 1961). In a 1965 article, Gettens argued that this particular zun (wine vessel) was not cast using the lost-wax method but instead was divided into 20 precast components and then assembled with a second pouring into the zun body's clay mold. This conclusion was supported by many scholars (Gettens 1965). Another opinion ignored the clay mold evidence with its relevant studies. This was issued by the American Foundrymen's Association in History of the Metal Casting Industry in 1969. “Most Chinese bronzes were cast by the lost-wax method,” it said. “It must be admitted that the quality of these castings is indeed excellent, as can be seen from these fine bronzes that the mold fabrication and alloy melting are rather standard” (Simpson 1969). This viewpoint did not pay attention to the large number of clay molds unearthed in China and the research results of domestic Chinese and international scholars in the casting of Shang and Zhou bronzes.

In addition to research on the casting technology of bronze vessels in capital areas during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, some scholars analyzed bronzes from the surrounding areas at that time. Emma C. Bunker replicated a plaque discovered in northern Iran around the first millennium BC. Bunker believed that plaques were made using the indirect lost-wax technique; that canvas was used in the production of wax molds, leaving traces of fabric on the surface of the objects; and that the lost-wax method was introduced into China in the third century BC (1970) through steppe culture (Bunker and Ternbach 1970). Wan Jiaobao believed that neither the direct nor indirect lost-wax method was suitable for casting traditional Chinese ritual bronzes because more attention was paid to the internal and external decoration of such vessels and sometimes there were inscriptions on the inner walls. However, many figures and scenes on cowrie vessels (containers for shells) unearthed in Southwest China were cast by lost-wax casting (Wan 1989).

There was a common understanding of the casting process of Shang and Zhou dynasty bronzes in China during this period, namely that all bronzes in the Central Plains were cast using the piece-mold method and the possibility that lost-wax casting existed in the surrounding areas, such as the prairie culture and bronze culture in Southwest China, but that the time was relatively late. Scholars’ cognition of the piece-mold casting technology of the Shang and Zhou dynasties changed during the three study periods discussed above. New discoveries through archaeological excavations and the introduction of new research methods indicate that the bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties unearthed in the Central Plains were basically cast by the piece-mold method. Based on the research findings of this period, this stage is referred to as the complete piece-mold research period.

1978–2018: Controversial Research on Two Casting Technologies

In 1978 the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng State (Eastern Zhou, 433 BC) in Suizhou, Hubei Province, was excavated. A bronze zun-pan was unearthed with 133 other bronze ritual vessels and objects (Figure 3; HBPM 2018). In the same year, a cloud-patterned bronze jin was unearthed in Tomb 2 in the late Spring and Autumn period at Xiasi, Xichuan, Henan Province. Examples from both tombs had intricate openwork appendices. The archaeologists who excavated the Xiasi site believed that “this bronze jin was cast using the lost-wax method” (HPICR 1991). It was difficult to remove molds from the model when openwork appendices were cast using the Chinese piece-mold method. Based on observation and research on the structure, crafts traces, and other aspects of the bronze zun-pan of Marquis Yi, Hua Jueming et al. believed that the openwork attachments were cast using the lost-wax method. Many scholars supported this view, which once again triggered debate on whether the lost-wax method was in use in Bronze Age China.

Scholars who supported this view listed the objects they believed were cast using the lost-wax method and examined specific casting techniques or sources of the technology. Wan Jiabao argued, “Among the bronzes there is a set of zun-pan vessels, part of which was made by using the lost-wax method.” He further pointed out that this was not the earliest lost-wax casting ware in China and that some accessories unearthed from the Xiasi site in Xichuan were likely made using lost-wax casting (Wan 1989). Hua Jueming agreed with this view and pointed out that the lost-wax cast bronzes demonstrated obvious characteristics similar to Chinese Shang and Zhou bronzes, without any signs of external influence, suggesting that the lost-wax casting method was invented in China no later than the Spring and Autumn period (1979, 1983, 2006; Hua and Guo 1979; Hua and Jia 1983; Hua and Tan 2006). Tan Derui believed that lost-wax casting in Bronze Age China originated from the burning and lost methods in the late Shang dynasty and became relatively mature in the middle and late Spring and Autumn period (Tan 1994). Thomas W. Chase believed that bronze hooks cast in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period could have been made using the lost-wax method (Thomas 1991), but this view was disproved by the existence of Houma clay molds and models for casting belt hooks (SXPIA 1993:160–69).

At the same time, some scholars argued that there was no lost-wax casting in Bronze Age China. In the opinion of Zhou Weirong, Dong Yawei, Wan Quanwen, and Wang Changsui et al., all the artifacts unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng and the tomb of Chu at Xiasi in Xichuan were cast using the piece-mold method. Hundreds of welding points were discovered on the zun-pan of Marquis Yi of Zeng (Figure 4a, white arrow), as were sprue marks (Figure 4b, red arrow) and the accessories’ internal welding marks (Figure 4), which are characteristics of piece-mold casting (W. R. Zhou 2009). These scholars concluded that the lost-wax method did not exist in Bronze Age China (Huang 2008; Zhou et al. 2006a, 2006b, 2007).The debate has continued since then. In 2008 Huang Jinzhou disapproved of the views of Zhou Weirong et al. and reported his experimental replication of the rim of the zun-pan using the lost-wax method (Figure 5). He also pointed out that the lost-wax method in China originated from piece-mold casting (W. R. Zhou 2009). Christopher J. Davey suggested that the bronze masks unearthed from the Sanxingdui site were cast using the lost-wax method (Davey 2009). Hua Jueming further pointed out that a number of artifacts can be confirmed as having been made by lost-wax casting in the pre-Qin period. These artifacts were mostly unearthed in the Chu culture area and can be dated from the middle and late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period. Their types, patterns, manufacturing methods, and production techniques were consistent, forming a self-contained and orderly development series (Hua 2010).

During this period, scholars who opposed the idea of use of the lost-wax method also carried out replication experiments on the piece-mold casting process. Wang Jinchao successfully designed and cast the openwork piece unearthed from Xu Gongning's tomb in Ye County (Figure 6, left; Wang 2008, 2011) by using clay molds for appendices and a model for the body with pattern. He also made the model, mold, and core of the most complicated openwork accessories of the zun-pan of Marquis Yi of Zeng and successfully conducted casting experiments (Figure 6a; Zhou 2009a). Based on the results and investigation of the lost-wax technique, Zhou Weirong pointed out that the key characteristic of lost-wax casting was the use of a soft model; therefore it was wrong to take the difficulty of demolding as evidence for the use of lost-wax casting. In fact, the part that was difficult to be demolded could be made directly on clay molds. He further pointed out that prototypes for the pre-Qin openwork bronzes had already appeared in the Western Zhou dynasty and then developed step by step from simple forms to complicated shapes. Hence the zun-pan of Marquis Yi of Zeng was likely cast using piece-mold casting and represented the inheritance and innovation of piece-mold casting technique (Zhou 2009a, 2009b; Zhou and Huang 2015). On the basis of the casting characteristics and clay models unearthed from the tombs of bronze-casting artisans in the northern suburbs of Xi ‘an, Zhou Weirong also argued that use of the lost-wax method for making the bronze plaques of steppe culture was doubtful. In his opinion, the bronze plaques unearthed in China were cast using the piece-mold method, and this is supported by obvious process traces, such as mold lines (Zhou 2016).

Donna Strahan found vertical mold seams and fins that had spilled bronze alloy solidification traces along the junctures of some of the openwork accessories. She believed they were made by piece-mold casting. For example, a delicate censer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is believed to be made using piece-mold casting. The body of a bronze dui vessel, also in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in her opinion was made using piece-mold casting, while its openwork handle was made by lost-wax casting (Figure 7, right). She suggested that the use of lost-wax casting in ancient China needs more examination and analysis, together with the study of Qin and Han artifacts, to reach an eventual answer.^a

In this period, the two opposing viewpoints on whether lost-wax casting existed in the pre-Qin period remained in long-term debate. Both supporters and opponents conducted restoration experiments on openwork appendices, trying to prove their respective assumptions. They published a series of articles and made considerable contributions to research on the casting technology of early China. From their experiments, it can be seen that the supporters of lost-wax casting concentrated on building wax models while the supporters of piece-mold casting concentrated on carving openwork patterns on clay molds. Both sides had their own emphasis and reproduced corresponding objects. Openwork parts were successfully cast using both methods, but there is neither historical evidence, such as “The Artists’ Record” (考工记), to prove the existence of lost-wax casting in the pre-Qin period nor archaeological evidence to support each hypothesis. In particular, there are no finds of openwork clay molds or openwork casting remains to support piece-mold casting, and there are no related relics to prove the use of lost-wax casting either. Thus the question of whether the lost-wax method was used in Bronze Age China remains to be answered.

Although the casting process in the Central Plains has been the subject of considerable controversy, research on lost-wax casting used in the Dian culture in Yunnan made some progress during this period. Li Xiaocen and other scholars argued that the stereo shapes on receptacles in Yunnan and other areas were likely cast using the lost-wax method and further pointed out that the earliest date for the use of the lost-wax method in these areas was likely in the middle/late Warring States period. The casting technology of these objects was very different from that of the piece-mold casting used in the Central Plains and was probably introduced into the region from the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent (Li and Han 2011).

Some scholars held a neutral view on the existence of lost-wax casting in the pre-Qin period. Zhang Changping pointed out that both hypotheses about the casting method have their flaws. In his opinion, the argument for the use of lost-wax casting is rather weak and opponents are wrong about mold seams and welding marks on the zun-pan vessel of Marquis Yi of Zeng. Therefore further investigation is needed to demonstrate whether the lost-wax method was used in the zun-pan of Marquis Yi of Zeng (Zhang 2007). Zhu Fenghan concluded that there were two fundamentally different viewpoints on the process of casting openwork parts from the late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period and that both were the result of professional investigation on specific bronze specimens. This important subject requires the gathering of more convincing new data. Meanwhile, it is vital to continue to achieve clearer results through demonstration and more in-depth technical means (Zhu 2007). Since there is no concrete result in the dispute between scholars on both sides during this period, we refer to this research period as the static period of the dispute between proponents of piece-mold casting and lost-wax casting.

After 2019: Inner Vision, the New Perspective

Academia has an extensive understanding of research undertaken on lost-wax casting in ancient China during the above four periods, but there is still no consensus on whether the lost-wax technique existed in Bronze Age China. Although the objects in dispute are featured as openwork, there are no obvious differences in substance between the two casting methods when it comes to objects with a solid body. For example, spears cast by both methods are indistinguishable from each other in appearance, as shown in Figure 8. Focusing on only the openwork objects currently available would not put an end to the debate about whether there was a lost-wax technique in Bronze Age China. To solve the problem of the early use of the lost-wax method in China, future investigation should be undertaken using other methods or perspectives.

In recent years, scholars have gradually realized that to solve the problem of the lost-wax method in China and distinguish lost-wax products, it is necessary to compare the whole casting process and technological characteristics of the lost-wax method with those of the piece-mold method. In 2019 Shao Anding and Yang Huan successively published research articles on the casting technology of the bronze waterfowl and chariots unearthed from the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Cao 2015; Shao 2019). Detailed evidence of manufacturing observed on the inner walls of these objects provided important clues to reveal the casting technique used for making these bronzes.

The bronze waterfowl were unearthed from Pit K0007, located within the complex of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, in June 1999. After many years of research, in 2019 Shao Anding published a book titled Painted Bronze Waterfowl Unearthed in the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin: Their Manufacturing and Related Issues. In this book, he argued that the bronze waterfowl were cast using the lost-wax technique, as evidenced by the use of ceramic chaplets, wooden (Figure 9b) and metal (Figure 9a) armatures, and bronze patches, as well as traces that could have been left by flowing wax, all of which have been found on the bronze waterfowl (Figure 9; Shao 2019:Plates18, 21).

Two bronze chariots were unearthed in December 1980 on the west side of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. They are outstanding examples of Chinese bronze-casting technology as revealed by their advanced manufacturing technology and complete structures. Yang Huan carried out a comparative analysis of the craft processes between the lost-wax method and the piece-mold method, pointing out that the armatures, bronze patches, and core-pins were unique process traces of lost-wax casting (Figure 10). In other words, these traces indicate that the cavity parts of the bronze chariots were cast using lost-wax casting.

The above studies of casting technology of bronze waterfowl and bronze chariots not only clarified casting technology of specific items but also provided a fresh approach for research on lost-wax casting in China. They compared the technology process and craft traces of piece-mold casting with those of lost-wax casting, including both the direct and indirect lost-wax methods, and used these comparisons to determine the casting type. This method could be used as a reference for casting objects with hollow bodies, which are suspected to be cast by the lost-wax method.

At present, there is not much dispute on the casting method of the bronze waterfowl and bronze chariots unearthed from the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin. Therefore this paper refers to the two studies in 2019 as the comparative study period of the Chinese lost-wax method and its process details (inner vision).

Conclusion and Future Research Orientation

By reviewing the research history of lost-wax casting technology in China, it can be seen that since 1928, with the increase in unearthed relics from foundry sites in China and the related progress of scholars’ research, the research history of lost-wax casting technology of ancient Chinese bronzes, in the past century, can be divided into the following five stages:

1.Before 1931: the period of research in favor of a complete use of lost-wax casting
2.1931 (a large number of clay molds unearthed at the Yinxu site) to 1959: the period of research favoring the use of both lost-wax and piece-mold methods (wax models plus clay molds)
3.1960 (clay models unearthed at the Houma foundry) to 1977: the period of research in favor of the complete use of piece-mold casting
4.1978 (zun-pan vessels unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State) to 2018: the period of research characterized by the continuing dispute between piece-mold and lost-wax casting
5.2019 to present: the period of research with a focus on a comparative study of the details of the hollowed lost-wax casting process

Each of the five stages of research has its own emphasis. With the discovery of new materials and the application of new research techniques, scholars’ understanding of the lost-wax technique in ancient China and the study of the issue have made significant progress. Generally speaking, the conclusion that bronze vessels were cast by the piece-mold method in the Bronze Age in the metropolitan region of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, as well as their dependencies, still holds. In a few marginal areas, such as the steppe culture areas, a large number of bronze plaques were used, and most scholars believe they were made using indirect lost-wax casting. In addition, during the middle and late Warring States period, the manufacturers of some objects in Southwest China, such as the appendices of cowrie vessels, also adopted the lost-wax technique. New materials and in-depth investigation are required to reveal the casting process of bronzes widely assumed to have been made using the lost-wax technique in the region of the Chu culture, such as the bronze jin unearthed from Tomb 2 at Xiasi in Xichuan and the zun-pan vessels of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State.

The method of detailed comparison in the study of the bronze waterfowl and bronze chariots has effectively solved the problem of casting technology of the artifacts unearthed from the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin and provided a new approach to the investigation of similar artifacts. We should concentrate on detection of the mold core of cavity bronzes suspected to be cast using the lost-wax method to solve the problem of lost-wax casting in ancient China. The clay core of the hollowed parts directly contacts the wax model while the wax model is made, and when the wax model is lost by heating, the mold core is exposed to the wax model melting at high temperatures. Therefore organic components in the wax model may remain on the surface of the core. This is expected to provide a new way to solve the problem of the use of lost-wax casting in ancient China.

To summarize, the characteristics of China's use of lost-wax casting have been preliminarily established after almost 100 years of study by scholars at home and abroad. Piece-mold casting was predominately used in the core areas of the Central Plains in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the lost-wax method was used in the Qin period at the latest. Lost-wax was not a new technology at that time, as shown by the exquisitely made bronze chariots and bronze waterfowl unearthed from the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin. The origin or source of lost-wax casting in ancient China needs to be further studied. Lost-wax casting influenced by other civilizations can occasionally be seen in marginal areas, such as the northern steppe and Southwest China, from the late Warring States period. Finally, we look forward to the detection of organic remains on the surface of clay cores, which can provide a clear answer to the existence and use of lost-wax casting in ancient China.

Acknowledgments

This paper was originally published in the Chinese Journal for the History of Science and Technology, vol. 42, no. 1, titled 中国青铜时代失蜡法百年研究史略论. This edition has been revised slightly.

Please consider joining the BIDAMOUNT Community by becoming a PATREON or Global Member Subscriber and help support this site and our YouTube Channel.

Thank you very much. Peter

$5 Per Month

$ 4 Per Month

CLICK TO JOIN

For the extra dollar a Month I think the Patreon Membership gives more bang for the buck.. Both support the YouTube Channel and maintain this site. ..

Weekly handpicked auction lost in the USA and Abroad as well as access to the AUCTIONEER Report Card, over 450 Auction Houses Graded A to F with comments. $4 a month.

This Week's Videos

A few items we think are nice.