Lost-wax casting
Lost-wax casting – also called investment casting, precision casting, or cire perdue – is the process by which a duplicate sculpture is cast from an original sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method. The oldest known examples of this technique are approximately 6,500 years old and attributed to gold artefacts found at Bulgaria's Varna Necropolis. A copper amulet from Mehrgarh, Indus Valley civilization, in Pakistan, is dated to circa 4,000 BC. Cast copper objects, found in the Nahal Mishmar hoard in southern Israel, which belong to the Chalcolithic period, are estimated, from carbon-14 dating, to date to circa 3500 BC. Other examples from somewhat later periods are from Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. Lost-wax casting was widespread in Europe until the 18th century, when a piece-moulding process came to predominate. The steps used in casting small bronze sculptures are fairly standardized, though the process today varies from foundry to foundry. Variations of the process include: "lost mould", which recognizes that materials other than wax can be used; and "waste wax process", because the mould is destroyed to remove the cast item.
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