Ancient Chinese Bronze Casting Methods: The Dilemma of Choice

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.