Lost Wax Casting

A method of metal-casting used to create the southern Indian bronzes during
the Chola dynasty (9th–14th c.). The
artisan makes a wax image of the statue,
then covers the wax with layers of clay.
The clay is fired and the wax vaporizes,
leaving a clay mold into which molten
metal is poured. Once the metal cools,
the clay mold is broken, revealing the
statue. Small imperfections are removed
by hand, and the statue is polished to a
high gloss. This casting method produces
exquisite detail and subtlety of expression, but is extremely time-consuming
because each wax image and clay mold
can only be used once.