Metalworking in Bronze Age China: The Lost-Wax Process By Peng Pe ...

independently developed in China or was introduced from outside. Eastern Zhou lost-wax castings make it clear that early Chinese foundries still relied on section molds even when they already knew how to use the lost-wax process with sophistication.¹¹ This means it is possible that Chinese casters mastered lost-wax or similar processes considerably earlier. Today there are three main hypotheses: (1) that the lost-wax process was developed locally in China from earlier “burn-out” casting methods, (2) that the lost-wax process was introduced from the southwest, and (3) that the lost-wax process was introduced from the north. This chapter tests these hypotheses with known archaeological materials. One question worth pondering is how important the origin of the lost-wax process was. Was its advent an earthshaking development or an event far from revolutionary or consequential? In either case, it is clearly wrong to consider the lost-wax technique the only right way to cast bronzes, implying that Chinese casters used the wrong way only because they did not have the right way at their disposal.¹²

Chapter 9, as the concluding chapter, steps back to assess several unresolved issues, especially those related to other possible lost-wax traditions and technological variations from Bronze Age sites in China. It also carefully examines some uncritically accepted “lost-wax castings” that deserve particular discussion. Even as I uncover possibilities, many questions remain unanswered. Further research and future discoveries will enrich the picture I have drawn here and deepen the present understanding of art, technology, and invention.