Ancient Chinese Bronze Casting Methods: The Dilemma of Choice
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Ancient Chinese Bronze Casting Methods: The Dilemma of Choice Michael R. Notis1 and DongNing Wang1 1 Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015 USA Abstract The history of the manufacture of the magnificent bronze castings produced in ancient China has been reinterpreted a number of times during the past hundred years or so. These bronzes were first believed to be fabricated by lost wax (cire perdue) casting, but this gave way to a belief that piece mold casting was the dominant, if not the sole method of manufacture from the Shang (1700-1100 BCE) until possibly as late as the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). This has been reinforced by the finding, a number of years ago, of the Houma piece mold foundry, as well a number of more recent similar finds. However, this stance was challenged by the discovery of openwork bronze objects as early as in the 1920s, and more strongly challenged in the late 1970s by finds of intricately cast interwoven openwork bronze objects at the Tomb of the Marquis of Yi, dated to the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE). Since then many other similar bronze objects have been found. Questions exist concerning the very existence of the lost-wax process as early as the Spring and Autumn Period (771 to 476 BCE), and was it independently developed in China, or was it introduced from the outside. Introduction The nature of the casting technology used for the manufacture of ancient bronze objects has long been a source of controversy in China. This is not only because of the desire to understand the history of technology per se, but because of the perceived implications to the socio-political history of China. The predominant technology that developed over a long period of time in the west and in most other parts of Asia has been the use of lost-wax casting (cire perdue, or investment casting) for objects with significant details and intricate structures, Figure 1a. In China, however, the current understanding is that various modifications of a piece-mold technology have been the predominant in-situ approach to casting, Figure 1b.
Figure 1. (a) modern lost-wax casting with sprue, runner and gate system still attached (b) Bronze tripod jia vessel, and partial sections of the piece-mold for it.
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The question of concern may be stated as: Are some Chinese cast bronzes from as early as the Spring and Autumn (771 to 476 BCE), and Warring States (477-221BCE) Periods fabricated by the lost wax method, or do they contain some segments cast using this method? Our approach is to examine a significant number of relevant openwork bronze objects from this period of time, using a methodology to categorize the object and its casting technology generally following “Occam’s Razor”, a problem-solving principle that can be interpreted as stating “Among competing hypotheses, the one with the f
