Lost-wax casting

Introduction and Process of Lost-Wax Casting

• Lost-wax casting, also known as investment casting, precision casting, or cire perdue
• Duplicate sculptures are cast from an original sculpture
• Oldest known examples date back to approximately 6,500 years ago
• Found in various ancient civilizations such as Indus Valley and Mesopotamia
• Model-making: Original model created from wax, clay, or other materials
• Mouldmaking: Mould made of original model, usually with latex or silicone
• Wax: Molten wax poured into mould to create a coating
• Removal of wax: Hollow wax copy of the model is removed from the mould
• Chasing: Marks and imperfections on the wax copy are removed
• Additional Steps: Spruing, slurry, burnout, testing, pouring
• Finishing the Casting: Release, metal-chasing, filing down pits and sprue stubs

Lost-Wax Casting in Jewellery and Small Parts

• Wax model obtained from injection into a rubber mould or custom-made by carving
• Wax or waxes are sprued and fused onto a sprue base
• Investment (refractory plaster) is poured into the flask and hardened
• Casting is done using centrifugal casting or vacuum casting

Lost-Wax Casting in Different Regions and Cultures

• Textiles: Wax and textile are replaced by metal during casting process
• Glass sculptures: Lost-wax casting process used in production of cast glass sculptures
• Archaeological history: Examples found in various ancient civilizations such as Varna Necropolis, Nahal Mishmar hoard, Mesopotamia
• Black Sea: Cast gold objects found in burial mounds of ancient horse riding tribes
• Middle East: Oldest known examples found in Nahal Mishmar hoard in southern Land of Israel, used in Mesopotamia and Sumer
• Ancient Mediterranean: Examples found in Sardinia, Italy, and Etruscan bronze sculptures
• Ancient Greece: Limited availability of examples, underwater statues and shipwrecks as evidence
• East Asia: Rise of lost-wax casting in China and Japan
• Southeast Asia: Bronze casting in Thailand and Vietnam
• Africa and the Americas: Lost-wax casting tradition in Nigeria, Benin, Colombia, and Mexico

Literary and Direct Evidence of Lost-Wax Casting

• Allusions and mentions of lost-wax casting in early literary works from ancient Rome and Greece
• Indian literary sources such as the Shilpa Shastras and Vishnusamhita describe the use of wax for casting metal objects
• Theophilus Presbyter's treatise provides step-by-step procedures for lost-wax casting and examples of articles made using this method

Other Information and References

• Gallery: Examples of bronze sculptures cast using the lost-wax process
• Related techniques: Fusible core injection molding
• References: The Oxford English Dictionary definition of cire perdue, scholarly articles, and books on lost-wax casting.

Lost-wax casting Data Sources