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159-677: Casting processes have been known for thousands of years, and have been widely used for sculpture (especially in bronze ), jewelry in precious metals , and weapons and tools. Highly engineered castings are found in 90 percent of durable goods, including cars, trucks, aerospace, trains, mining and construction equipment, oil wells, appliances, pipes, hydrants, wind turbines, nuclear plants , medical devices, defense products, toys, and more. Traditional techniques include lost-wax casting (which may be further divided into centrifugal casting , and vacuum assist direct pour casting), plaster mold casting and sand casting . The modern casting process

318-633: A Ram in a Thicket , the Copper Bull and a bull's head on one of the Lyres of Ur . From the many subsequent periods before the ascendency of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 10th century BCE, Mesopotamian art survives in a number of forms: cylinder seals , relatively small figures in the round, and reliefs of various sizes, including cheap plaques of moulded pottery for the home, some religious and some apparently not. The Burney Relief

477-409: A cooling curve shaped as shown below. [REDACTED] Note that there is no longer a thermal arrest, instead there is a freezing range. The freezing range corresponds directly to the liquidus and solidus found on the phase diagram for the specific alloy. The local solidification time can be calculated using Chvorinov's rule, which is: Where t is the solidification time, V is the volume of

636-459: A culture is regarded as of great significance, though tracing the emergence is often complicated by the presumed existence of sculpture in wood and other perishable materials of which no record remains; The totem pole is an example of a tradition of monumental sculpture in wood that would leave no traces for archaeology. The ability to summon the resources to create monumental sculpture, by transporting usually very heavy materials and arranging for

795-474: A fine surface quality and dimensional consistency. Semi-solid metal (SSM) casting is a modified die casting process that reduces or eliminates the residual porosity present in most die castings. Rather than using liquid metal as the feed material, SSM casting uses a higher viscosity feed material that is partially solid and partially liquid. A modified die casting machine is used to inject the semi-solid slurry into reusable hardened steel dies. The high viscosity of

954-401: A finished bronze casting. This is a class of casting processes that use pattern materials that evaporate during the pour, which means there is no need to remove the pattern material from the mold before casting. The two main processes are lost-foam casting and full-mold casting. Lost-foam casting is a type of evaporative-pattern casting process that is similar to investment casting except foam

1113-455: A function as a vessel with a sculptural form, and small figurines have often been as popular as they are in modern Western culture. Stamps and moulds were used by most ancient civilizations, from ancient Rome and Mesopotamia to China. Wood carving has been extremely widely practiced, but survives much less well than the other main materials, being vulnerable to decay, insect damage, and fire. It therefore forms an important hidden element in

1272-503: A general term for an object made in this way. Alabaster or mineral gypsum is a soft mineral that is easy to carve for smaller works and still relatively durable. Engraved gems are small carved gems, including cameos , originally used as seal rings . The copying of an original statue in stone, which was very important for ancient Greek statues, which are nearly all known from copies, was traditionally achieved by " pointing ", along with more freehand methods. Pointing involved setting up

1431-415: A grid of string squares on a wooden frame surrounding the original, and then measuring the position on the grid and the distance between grid and statue of a series of individual points, and then using this information to carve into the block from which the copy is made. Bronze and related copper alloys are the oldest and still the most popular metals for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture

1590-777: A high stage of development in South India during the medieval period. Although bronze images were modelled and cast during the Pallava Period in the eighth and ninth centuries, some of the most beautiful and exquisite statues were produced during the Chola Period in Tamil Nadu from the tenth to the twelfth century. The technique and art of fashioning bronze images is still skillfully practised in South India, particularly in Kumbakonam. The distinguished patron during

1749-535: A hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solid casting is then ejected or broken out to complete the process, although a final stage of "cold work" may follow on the finished cast. Casting may be used to form hot liquid metals or various materials that cold set after mixing of components (such as epoxies , concrete , plaster and clay ). Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. The oldest surviving casting

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1908-673: A kiln until they are liquid and flow into a waiting mould below it in the kiln. Hot glass can also be blown and/or hot sculpted with hand tools either as a solid mass or as part of a blown object. More recent techniques involve chiseling and bonding plate glass with polymer silicates and UV light. Pottery is one of the oldest materials for sculpture, as well as clay being the medium in which many sculptures cast in metal are originally modelled for casting. Sculptors often build small preliminary works called maquettes of ephemeral materials such as plaster of Paris , wax, unfired clay, or plasticine . Many cultures have produced pottery which combines

2067-439: A limited life before wearing out. The die casting process forces molten metal under high pressure into mold cavities (which are machined into dies). Most die castings are made from nonferrous metals , specifically zinc , copper, and aluminium-based alloys, but ferrous metal die castings are possible. The die casting method is especially suited for applications where many small to medium-sized parts are needed with good detail,

2226-407: A local production of figurines from the 11th to 10th century BC. The cremation graves (mainly 8th-7th centuries BC, but continuing until the beginning of the 4th century) from the necropolis of Paularo (Italian Oriental Alps) contained fibulae , pendants and other copper-based objects that were made by the lost-wax process. Etruscan examples, such as the bronze anthropomorphic handle from

2385-405: A mould cavity. Some automobile manufacturers use a lost-foam technique to make engine blocks . The model is made of polystyrene foam, which is placed into a casting flask , consisting of a cope and drag , which is then filled with casting sand . The foam supports the sand, allowing shapes that would be impossible if the process had to rely on the sand alone. The metal is poured in, vaporizing

2544-536: A number of figures of large-eyed priests and worshippers, mostly in alabaster and up to a foot high, who attended temple cult images of the deity, but very few of these have survived. Sculptures from the Sumerian and Akkadian period generally had large, staring eyes, and long beards on the men. Many masterpieces have also been found at the Royal Cemetery at Ur (c. 2650 BCE), including the two figures of

2703-402: A number of non-traditional forms of sculpture, including sound sculpture , light sculpture , environmental art , environmental sculpture , street art sculpture , kinetic sculpture (involving aspects of physical motion ), land art , and site-specific art . Sculpture is an important form of public art . A collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a sculpture garden . There

2862-775: A pair of large bison in clay against a limestone rock. With the beginning of the Mesolithic in Europe figurative sculpture greatly reduced, and remained a less common element in art than relief decoration of practical objects until the Roman period, despite some works such as the Gundestrup cauldron from the European Iron Age and the Bronze Age Trundholm sun chariot . From the ancient Near East ,

3021-412: A short and open gating system to fill the mold as quickly as possible. However, for turbulent sensitive materials short sprues are used to minimize the distance the material must fall when entering the mold. Rectangular pouring cups and tapered sprues are used to prevent the formation of a vortex as the material flows into the mold; these vortices tend to suck gas and oxides into the mold. A large sprue well

3180-1040: A small hollow-cast bull came from Sahribahlol, Gandhara , and a standing Tirthankara ( 2nd~3rd century CE ) from Chausa in Bihar should be mentioned here as well. Other notable bronze figures and images have been found in Rupar , Mathura (in Uttar Pradesh) and Brahmapura , Maharashtra . Gupta and post-Gupta period bronze figures have been recovered from the following sites: Saranath , Mirpur-Khas (in Pakistan ), Sirpur (District of Raipur), Balaighat (near Mahasthan now in Bangladesh ), Akota (near Vadodara , Gujarat), Vasantagadh, Chhatarhi , Barmer and Chambi (in Rajesthan ). The bronze casting technique and making of bronze images of traditional icons reached

3339-453: A success. Dental laboratories make other items this way as well. In this process, the wax and the textile are both replaced by the metal during the casting process, whereby the fabric reinforcement allows for a thinner model, and thus reduces the amount of metal expended in the mould. Evidence of this process is seen by the textile relief on the reverse side of objects and is sometimes referred to as "lost-wax, lost textile". This textile relief

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3498-635: A treatise in the early-to-mid-12th century that includes original work and copied information from other sources, such as the Mappae clavicula and Eraclius, De dolorous et artibus Romanorum . It provides step-by-step procedures for making various articles, some by lost-wax casting: "The Copper Wind Chest and Its Conductor" (Chapter 84); "Tin Cruets" (Chapter 88), and "Casting Bells" (Chapter 85), which call for using "tallow" instead of wax; and "The Cast Censer". In Chapters 86 and 87 Theophilus details how to divide

3657-796: A useful function, like the famous lions supporting a fountain in the Alhambra . Many forms of Protestantism also do not approve of religious sculpture. There has been much iconoclasm of sculpture for religious motives, from the Early Christians and the Beeldenstorm of the Protestant Reformation to the 2001 destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan by the Taliban . The earliest undisputed examples of sculpture belong to

3816-522: A very early stage. The collecting of sculpture, including that of earlier periods, goes back some 2,000 years in Greece, China and Mesoamerica, and many collections were available on semi-public display long before the modern museum was invented. From the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture

3975-436: Is a solidification process, which means the solidification phenomenon controls most of the properties of the casting. Moreover, most of the casting defects occur during solidification, such as gas porosity and solidification shrinkage . Solidification occurs in two steps: nucleation and crystal growth . In the nucleation stage, solid particles form within the liquid. When these particles form, their internal energy

4134-483: Is a copper Mesopotamian frog from 3200 BCE. Specific techniques include lost-wax casting , plaster mould casting, and sand casting . Welding is a process where different pieces of metal are fused together to create different shapes and designs. There are many different forms of welding, such as Oxy-fuel welding , Stick welding , MIG welding , and TIG welding . Oxy-fuel is probably the most common method of welding when it comes to creating steel sculptures because it

4293-561: Is a metal casting process that employs reusable molds ("permanent molds"), usually made from metal . The most common process uses gravity to fill the mold. However, gas pressure or a vacuum are also used. A variation on the typical gravity casting process, called slush casting , produces hollow castings. Common casting metals are aluminum , magnesium , and copper alloys. Other materials include tin , zinc , and lead alloys and iron and steel are also cast in graphite molds. Permanent molds, while lasting more than one casting still have

4452-435: Is a method of either vertical or horizontal continuous casting of rods and pipes of various profiles (cylindrical, square, hexagonal, slabs etc.) of 8-30mm in diameter. Copper (Cu), bronze (Cu· Sn alloy), nickel alloys are usually used because of greater casting speed (in case of vertical upcasting) and because of better physical features obtained. The advantage of this method is that metals are almost oxygen-free and that

4611-479: Is a mixture of clay and sand with straw or dung. A model of the produced is formed in a friable material (the chemise). The mold is formed around this chemise by covering it with loam. This is then baked (fired) and the chemise removed. The mold is then stood upright in a pit in front of the furnace for the molten metal to be poured. Afterwards the mold is broken off. Molds can thus only be used once, so that other methods are preferred for most purposes. Plaster casting

4770-456: Is a process that has been practiced for thousands of years, with the lost-wax process being one of the oldest known metal forming techniques. From 5000 years ago, when beeswax formed the pattern, to today's high technology waxes, refractory materials, and specialist alloys, the castings ensure high-quality components are produced with the key benefits of accuracy, repeatability, versatility, and integrity. Investment casting derives its name from

4929-452: Is a standing pose with arms crossed in front, but other figures are shown in different poses, including a complicated figure of a harpist seated on a chair. The subsequent Minoan and Mycenaean cultures developed sculpture further, under influence from Syria and elsewhere, but it is in the later Archaic period from around 650 BCE that the kouros developed. These are large standing statues of naked youths, found in temples and tombs, with

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5088-535: Is also a view that buildings are a type of sculpture, with Constantin Brâncuși describing architecture as "inhabited sculpture". One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in some form of association with religion. Cult images are common in many cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized ancient Greek art , like the Statue of Zeus at Olympia . The actual cult images in

5247-753: Is also much easier to work than stone. It has been very often painted after carving, but the paint wears less well than the wood, and is often missing in surviving pieces. Painted wood is often technically described as "wood and polychrome ". Typically a layer of gesso or plaster is applied to the wood, and then the paint is applied to that. Three dimensional work incorporating unconventional materials such as cloth, fur, plastics, rubber and nylon, that can thus be stuffed, sewn, hung, draped or woven, are known as soft sculptures . Well known creators of soft sculptures include Claes Oldenburg , Yayoi Kusama , Eva Hesse , Sarah Lucas and Magdalena Abakanowicz . Worldwide, sculptors have usually been tradespeople whose work

5406-422: Is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone . Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work, though not all areas of the world have such abundance of good stone for carving as Egypt, Greece, India and most of Europe. Petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) are perhaps

5565-465: Is an unusually elaborate and relatively large (20 x 15 inches, 50 x 37 cm) terracotta plaque of a naked winged goddess with the feet of a bird of prey, and attendant owls and lions. It comes from the 18th or 19th century BCE, and may also be moulded. Stone stelae , votive offerings , or ones probably commemorating victories and showing feasts, are also found from temples, which unlike more official ones lack inscriptions that would explain them;

5724-496: Is black in color, has almost no part weight limit, whereas dry sand has a practical part mass limit of 2,300–2,700 kg (5,100–6,000 lb). Minimum part weight ranges from 0.075–0.1 kg (0.17–0.22 lb). The sand is bonded using clays, chemical binders, or polymerized oils (such as motor oil). Sand can be recycled many times in most operations and requires little maintenance. Loam molding has been used to produce large symmetrical objects such as cannon and church bells. Loam

5883-404: Is both gravity and pressure independent since it creates its own force feed using a temporary sand mold held in a spinning chamber. Lead time varies with the application. Semi- and true-centrifugal processing permit 30–50 pieces/hr-mold to be produced, with a practical limit for batch processing of approximately 9000 kg total mass with a typical per-item limit of 2.3–4.5 kg. Industrially,

6042-423: Is cast over the original clay mixture. When cured, it is then removed from the damp clay, incidentally destroying the fine details in undercuts present in the clay, but which are now captured in the mold. The mold may then at any later time (but only once) be used to cast a plaster positive image, identical to the original clay. The surface of this plaster may be further refined and may be painted and waxed to resemble

6201-888: Is cooled from the solidification temperature to room temperature, which occurs due to thermal contraction . Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions . Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts . Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone , metal , ceramics , wood and other materials but, since Modernism , there has been almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast . Sculpture in stone survives far better than works of art in perishable materials, and often represents

6360-650: 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 (4500–3500 BC), 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

6519-401: Is important to keep the size of the gating system small, because it all must be cut from the casting and remelted to be reused. The efficiency, or yield , of a casting system can be calculated by dividing the weight of the casting by the weight of the metal poured. Therefore, the higher the number the more efficient the gating system/risers. There are three types of shrinkage: shrinkage of

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6678-407: Is lower than the surrounded liquid, which creates an energy interface between the two. The formation of the surface at this interface requires energy, so as nucleation occurs, the material actually undercools (i.e. cools below its solidification temperature) because of the extra energy required to form the interface surfaces. It then recalescences, or heats back up to its solidification temperature, for

6837-645: Is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, and the ability to transport and store the increasingly large works is a factor in their construction. Small decorative figurines , most often in ceramics, are as popular today (though strangely neglected by modern and Contemporary art ) as they were in the Rococo , or in ancient Greece when Tanagra figurines were a major industry, or in East Asian and Pre-Columbian art . Small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in

6996-472: Is mixed with a resin so that it can be heated by the pattern and hardened into a shell around the pattern. Because of the resin and finer sand, it gives a much finer surface finish. The process is easily automated and more precise than sand casting. Common metals that are cast include cast iron , aluminium, magnesium, and copper alloys. This process is ideal for complex items that are small to medium-sized. Investment casting (known as lost-wax casting in art)

7155-453: Is more durable (if stored indoors) than a clay original which must be kept moist to avoid cracking. With the low cost plaster at hand, the expensive work of bronze casting or stone carving may be deferred until a patron is found, and as such work is considered to be a technical, rather than artistic process, it may even be deferred beyond the lifetime of the artist. In waste molding a simple and thin plaster mold, reinforced by sisal or burlap,

7314-410: Is often called simply a "bronze". Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mould. Their strength and lack of brittleness (ductility) is an advantage when figures in action are to be created, especially when compared to various ceramic or stone materials (see marble sculpture for several examples). Gold

7473-593: Is one of the finest of a number of Magdalenian carvings in bone or antler of animals in the art of the Upper Paleolithic , although they are outnumbered by engraved pieces, which are sometimes classified as sculpture. Two of the largest prehistoric sculptures can be found at the Tuc d'Audobert caves in France, where around 12–17,000 years ago a masterful sculptor used a spatula-like stone tool and fingers to model

7632-403: Is one of the most popular and simplest types of casting, and has been used for centuries. Sand casting allows for smaller batches than permanent mold casting and at a very reasonable cost. Not only does this method allow manufacturers to create products at a low cost, but there are other benefits to sand casting, such as very small-size operations. The process allows for castings small enough fit in

7791-469: Is put over the sprue base and the waxes. Most sprue bases have a circular rim which grips the standard-sized flask, holding it in place. Investment (refractory plaster) is mixed and poured into the flask, filling it. It hardens, then is burned out as outlined above. Casting is usually done straight from the kiln either by centrifugal casting or vacuum casting . The lost-wax process can be used with any material that can burn , melt , or evaporate to leave

7950-467: Is similar to sand casting except that plaster of paris is used instead of sand as a mold material. Generally, the form takes less than a week to prepare, after which a production rate of 1–10 units/hr-mold is achieved, with items as massive as 45 kg (99 lb) and as small as 30 g (1 oz) with very good surface finish and close tolerances . Plaster casting is an inexpensive alternative to other molding processes for complex parts due to

8109-425: Is similar to the benefits from vacuum casting, also applied to jewelry casting. Continuous casting is a refinement of the casting process for the continuous, high-volume production of metal sections with a constant cross-section. It's primarily used to produce a semi-finished products for further processing. Molten metal is poured into an open-ended, water-cooled mold, which allows a 'skin' of solid metal to form over

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8268-469: Is subdivided into two main categories: expendable and non-expendable casting. It is further broken down by the mold material, such as sand or metal, and pouring method, such as gravity, vacuum, or low pressure. Expendable mold casting is a generic classification that includes sand, plastic, shell, plaster, and investment (lost-wax technique) moldings. This method of mold casting involves the use of temporary, non-reusable molds. [REDACTED] Sand casting

8427-443: Is the equestrian statue of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the "head", showing just that, or the bust , a representation of a person from the chest up. Small forms of sculpture include the figurine , normally a statue that is no more than 18 inches (46 cm) tall, and for reliefs the plaquette , medal or coin. Modern and contemporary art have added

8586-408: Is the easiest to use for shaping the steel as well as making clean and less noticeable joins of the steel. The key to Oxy-fuel welding is heating each piece of metal to be joined evenly until all are red and have a shine to them. Once that shine is on each piece, that shine will soon become a 'pool' where the metal is liquified and the welder must get the pools to join, fusing the metal. Once cooled off,

8745-644: Is the male figure found at Enkomi . Three objects from Cyprus (held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York ) were cast by the lost-wax technique from the 13th and 12th centuries BC, namely, the amphorae rim, the rod tripod , and the cast tripod. Other, earlier examples that show this assembly of lost-wax cast pieces include the bronze head of the Chatsworth Apollo and the bronze head of Aphrodite from Satala ( Turkey ) from

8904-414: Is the softest and most precious metal, and very important in jewellery ; with silver it is soft enough to be worked with hammers and other tools as well as cast; repoussé and chasing are among the techniques used in gold and silversmithing . Casting is a group of manufacturing processes by which a liquid material (bronze, copper, glass, aluminum, iron) is (usually) poured into a mould, which contains

9063-595: Is then placed in a kiln upside down with a funnel-like cup on top that holds small chunks of glass. When the kiln is brought up to temperature (1450-1530 degrees Fahrenheit), the glass chunks melt and flow down into the mold. Annealing time is usually 3–5 days, and total kiln time is 5 or more days. After the mold is removed from the kiln, the mold material is removed to reveal the sculpture inside. Cast gold knucklebones, beads, and bracelets, found in graves at Bulgaria's Varna Necropolis , have been dated to approximately 6500 years BP . They are believed to be both some of

9222-460: Is then poured directly into the mold, which vaporizes the foam upon contact. Non-expendable mold casting differs from expendable processes in that the mold need not be reformed after each production cycle. This technique includes at least four different methods: permanent, die, centrifugal, and continuous casting. This form of casting also results in improved repeatability in parts produced and delivers near net shape results. Permanent mold casting

9381-407: Is unsigned; in some traditions, for example China, where sculpture did not share the prestige of literati painting , this has affected the status of sculpture itself. Even in ancient Greece , where sculptors such as Phidias became famous, they appear to have retained much the same social status as other artisans, and perhaps not much greater financial rewards, although some signed their works. In

9540-441: Is used for the pattern instead of wax. This process takes advantage of the low boiling point of foam to simplify the investment casting process by removing the need to melt the wax out of the mold. Full-mold casting is an evaporative-pattern casting process which is a combination of sand casting and lost-foam casting . It uses an expanded polystyrene foam pattern which is then surrounded by sand, much like sand casting. The metal

9699-452: Is used to dissipate the kinetic energy of the liquid material as it falls down the sprue, decreasing turbulence. The choke , which is the smallest cross-sectional area in the gating system used to control flow, can be placed near the sprue well to slow down and smooth out the flow. Note that on some molds the choke is still placed on the gates to make separation of the part easier, but induces extreme turbulence. The gates are usually attached to

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9858-751: Is visible on gold ornaments from burial mounds in southern Siberia of the ancient horse riding tribes , such as the distinctive group of openwork gold plaques housed in the Hermitage Museum , Saint Petersburg . The technique may have its origins in the Far East , as indicated by the few Han examples, and the bronze buckle and gold plaques found at the cemetery at Xigou. Such a technique may also have been used to manufacture some Viking Age oval brooches , indicated by numerous examples with fabric imprints such as those of Castletown (Scotland) . The lost-wax casting process may also be used in

10017-526: The Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal and the Lachish reliefs showing a campaign. They produced very little sculpture in the round, except for colossal guardian figures of the human-headed lamassu , which are sculpted in high relief on two sides of a rectangular block, with the heads effectively in the round (and also five legs, so that both views seem complete). Even before dominating the region they had continued

10176-477: The Vishnu Purana , refers directly to the modeling of wax for making metal objects in chapter XIV: "if an image is to be made of metal, it must first be made of wax." Chapter 68 of the ancient Sanskrit text Mānasāra Silpa details casting idols in wax and is entitled Maduchchhista Vidhānam , or the "lost wax method". The 12th century text Mānasollāsa , allegedly written by King Someshvara III of

10335-497: The bi and cong probably had religious significance. Small sculptures as personal possessions go back to the earliest prehistoric art, and the use of very large sculpture as public art , especially to impress the viewer with the power of a ruler, goes back at least to the Great Sphinx of some 4,500 years ago. In archaeology and art history the appearance, and sometimes disappearance, of large or monumental sculpture in

10494-532: The Aurignacian culture , which was located in Europe and southwest Asia and active at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic . As well as producing some of the earliest known cave art , the people of this culture developed finely-crafted stone tools, manufacturing pendants, bracelets, ivory beads, and bone-flutes, as well as three-dimensional figurines. The 30 cm tall Löwenmensch found in

10653-528: The Berlin Museum ), the statue of Hera from Vulci (Etruria), which, like most statues, was cast in several parts which were then joined. Geometric bronzes such as the four copper horses of San Marco (Venice, probably 2nd century) are other prime examples of statues cast in many parts. Examples of works made using the lost-wax casting process in Ancient Greece largely are unavailable due to

10812-569: The Bocchi collection (National Archaeological Museum of Adria ), dating back to the 6th to 5th centuries BC, were made by cire perdue . Most of the handles in the Bocchi collection, as well as some bronze vessels found in Adria ( Rovigo , Italy ) were made using the lost-wax technique. The better known lost-wax produced items from the classical world include the "Praying Boy" c.  300 BC (in

10971-896: The Fourth Dynasty (Old Kingdom) were made by the lost-wax method. Hollow castings, such as the Louvre statuette from the Fayum find appeared during the Middle Kingdom , followed by solid cast statuettes (like the squatting, nursing mother , in Brooklyn ) of the Second Intermediate/Early New Kingdom . The hollow casting of statues is represented in the New Kingdom by the kneeling statue of Tuthmosis IV ( British Museum , London ) and

11130-540: The Indus Valley civilization , appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines and seals. The Mississippian culture seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture , seem to have devoted enormous resources to very large-scale monumental sculpture from

11289-826: The Middle Ages artists such as the 12th-century Gislebertus sometimes signed their work, and were sought after by different cities, especially from the Trecento onwards in Italy, with figures such as Arnolfo di Cambio , and Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni . Goldsmiths and jewellers, dealing with precious materials and often doubling as bankers, belonged to powerful guilds and had considerable status, often holding civic office. Many sculptors also practised in other arts; Andrea del Verrocchio also painted, and Giovanni Pisano , Michelangelo, and Jacopo Sansovino were architects . Some sculptors maintained large workshops. Even in

11448-577: The Nimrud ivories , Begram ivories and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun . Portrait sculpture began in Egypt , where the Narmer Palette shows a ruler of the 32nd century BCE, and Mesopotamia , where we have 27 surviving statues of Gudea , who ruled Lagash c. 2144–2124 BCE. In ancient Greece and Rome, the erection of a portrait statue in a public place was almost the highest mark of honour, and

11607-756: The Oxborough Dirk . The materials used in sculpture are diverse, changing throughout history. The classic materials, with outstanding durability, are metal, especially bronze , stone and pottery, with wood, bone and antler less durable but cheaper options. Precious materials such as gold , silver , jade , and ivory are often used for small luxury works, and sometimes in larger ones, as in chryselephantine statues. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including hardwoods (such as oak , box/boxwood , and lime/linden ); terracotta and other ceramics , wax (a very common material for models for casting, and receiving

11766-605: The Pre-Pottery Neolithic , and represent the start of a more-or-less continuous tradition in the region. The Protoliterate period in Mesopotamia , dominated by Uruk , saw the production of sophisticated works like the Warka Vase and cylinder seals . The Guennol Lioness is an outstanding small limestone figure from Elam of about 3000–2800 BCE, part human and part lioness. A little later there are

11925-500: The Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelo 's statue of David . Modernist sculpture moved away from traditional processes and the emphasis on the depiction of the human body, with the making of constructed sculpture , and the presentation of found objects as finished artworks. A distinction exists between sculpture "in the round", free-standing sculpture such as statues , not attached except possibly at

12084-627: The Western Chalukya Empire , also provides detail about lost-wax and other casting processes. In a 16th-century treatise, the Uttarabhaga of the Śilparatna written by Srïkumāra , verses 32 to 52 of Chapter 2 (" Linga Lakshanam "), give detailed instructions on making a hollow casting. An early medieval writer Theophilus Presbyter , believed to be the Benedictine monk and metalworker Roger of Helmarshausen , wrote

12243-527: The kore as the clothed female equivalent, with elaborately dressed hair; both have the " archaic smile ". They seem to have served a number of functions, perhaps sometimes representing deities and sometimes the person buried in a grave, as with the Kroisos Kouros . They are clearly influenced by Egyptian and Syrian styles, but the Greek artists were much more ready to experiment within the style. During

12402-547: The 1960s, acrylics and other plastics have been used as well. Andy Goldsworthy makes his unusually ephemeral sculptures from almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. Some sculpture, such as ice sculpture , sand sculpture , and gas sculpture , is deliberately short-lived. Recent sculptors have used stained glass , tools, machine parts, hardware and consumer packaging to fashion their works. Sculptors sometimes use found objects , and Chinese scholar's rocks have been appreciated for many centuries. Stone sculpture

12561-489: The 20th century. Aniconism originated with Judaism , which did not accept figurative sculpture until the 19th century, before expanding to Christianity , which initially accepted large sculptures. In Christianity and Buddhism, sculpture became very significant. Christian Eastern Orthodoxy has never accepted monumental sculpture, and Islam has consistently rejected nearly all figurative sculpture, except for very small figures in reliefs and some animal figures that fulfill

12720-517: The 6th century Greek sculpture developed rapidly, becoming more naturalistic, and with much more active and varied figure poses in narrative scenes, though still within idealized conventions. Sculptured pediments were added to temples , including the Parthenon in Athens, where the remains of the pediment of around 520 using figures in the round were fortunately used as infill for new buildings after

12879-669: The 9th century AD in Igboland ( Igbo-Ukwu ) in Nigeria , the 12th century AD in Yorubaland ( Ife ) and the 15th century AD in the kingdom of Benin . Some portrait heads remain. Benin mastered bronze during the 16th century, produced portraiture and reliefs in the metal using the lost wax process. The Egyptians were practicing cire perdue from the mid 3rd millennium BC, shown by Early Dynastic bracelets and gold jewellery. Inserted spouts for ewers (copper water vessels) from

13038-624: The British Museum. There is great variability in the use of the lost-wax method in East Asia. The casting method to make bronzes till the early phase of Eastern Zhou (770-256  BCE ) was almost invariably section-mold process. Starting from around 600  BCE , there was an unmistakable rise of lost-wax casting in the central plains of China, first witnessed in the Chu cultural sphere. Further investigations have revealed this not to be

13197-635: The Hohlenstein Stadel area of Germany is an anthropomorphic lion-human figure carved from woolly mammoth ivory. It has been dated to about 35–40,000   BP, making it, along with the Venus of Hohle Fels , the oldest known uncontested examples of sculpture. Much surviving prehistoric art is small portable sculptures, with a small group of female Venus figurines such as the Venus of Willendorf (24–26,000   BP) found across central Europe. The Swimming Reindeer of about 13,000 years ago

13356-780: The Persian sack in 480 BCE, and recovered from the 1880s on in fresh unweathered condition. Other significant remains of architectural sculpture come from Paestum in Italy, Corfu , Delphi and the Temple of Aphaea in Aegina (much now in Munich ). Most Greek sculpture originally included at least some colour; the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, has done extensive research and recreation of

13515-550: The Renaissance the physical nature of the work was perceived by Leonardo da Vinci and others as pulling down the status of sculpture in the arts, though the reputation of Michelangelo perhaps put this long-held idea to rest. From the High Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Leone Leoni and Giambologna could become wealthy, and ennobled, and enter the circle of princes, after a period of sharp argument over

13674-411: The ability to produce complex shaped parts net shape, pressure tightness, tight dimensional tolerances and the ability to cast thin walls. In this process molten metal is poured in the mold and allowed to solidify while the mold is rotating. Metal is poured into the center of the mold at its axis of rotation. Due to inertial force, the liquid metal is thrown out toward the periphery. Centrifugal casting

13833-595: The ambition of the elite, who might also be depicted on a coin. In other cultures such as Egypt and the Near East public statues were almost exclusively the preserve of the ruler, with other wealthy people only being portrayed in their tombs. Rulers are typically the only people given portraits in Pre-Columbian cultures, beginning with the Olmec colossal heads of about 3,000 years ago. East Asian portrait sculpture

13992-463: The art history of many cultures. Outdoor wood sculpture does not last long in most parts of the world, so that we have little idea how the totem pole tradition developed. Many of the most important sculptures of China and Japan in particular are in wood, and the great majority of African sculpture and that of Oceania and other regions. Wood is light, so suitable for masks and other sculpture intended to be carried, and can take very fine detail. It

14151-462: The base to any other surface, and the various types of relief , which are at least partly attached to a background surface. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or bas-relief , high relief , and sometimes an intermediate mid-relief . Sunk-relief is a technique restricted to ancient Egypt . Relief is the usual sculptural medium for large figure groups and narrative subjects, which are difficult to accomplish in

14310-418: The bottom of the casting to minimize turbulence and splashing. The gating system may also be designed to trap dross. One method is to take advantage of the fact that some dross has a lower density than the base material so it floats to the top of the gating system. Therefore, long flat runners with gates that exit from the bottom of the runners can trap dross in the runners; note that long flat runners will cool

14469-645: The buffalo, bull and dog found at Mohenjodaro and Harappa , two copper figures found at the Harappan site Lothal in the district of Ahmedabad of Gujarat, and likely a covered cart with wheels missing and a complete cart with a driver found at Chanhudaro . During the post-Harappan period, hoards of copper and bronze implements made by the lost-wax process are known from Tamil Nadu , Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , Madhya Pradesh , Odisha , Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal . Gold and copper ornaments, apparently Hellenistic in style, made by cire perdue were found at

14628-567: The case as it is clear that the piece-mould casting method was the principal technique used to manufacture bronze vessels in China . The lost-wax technique did not appear in northern China until the 6th century BC. Lost-wax casting is known as rōgata in Japanese , and dates back to the Yayoi period , c.  200 BC . The most famous piece made by cire perdue is the bronze image of Buddha in

14787-411: The casting, A is the surface area of the casting that contacts the mold , n is a constant, and B is the mold constant. It is most useful in determining if a riser will solidify before the casting, because if the riser does solidify first then it is worthless. The gating system serves many purposes, the most important being conveying the liquid material to the mold, but also controlling shrinkage,

14946-493: The centrifugal casting of railway wheels was an early application of the method developed by the German industrial company Krupp and this capability enabled the rapid growth of the enterprise. Small art pieces such as jewelry are often cast by this method using the lost wax process, as the forces enable the rather viscous liquid metals to flow through very small passages and into fine details such as leaves and petals. This effect

15105-780: The common practice in later periods of melting down pieces to reuse their materials. Much of the evidence for these products come from shipwrecks . As underwater archaeology became feasible, artifacts lost to the sea became more accessible. Statues like the Artemision Bronze Zeus or Poseidon (found near Cape Artemision ), as well as the Victorious Youth (found near Fano ), are two such examples of Greek lost-wax bronze statuary that were discovered underwater. Some Late Bronze Age sites in Cyprus have produced cast bronze figures of humans and animals. One example

15264-400: The components that can be produced using investment casting can incorporate intricate contours, and in most cases the components are cast near net shape, so require little or no rework once cast. A durable plaster intermediate is often used as a stage toward the production of a bronze sculpture or as a pointing guide for the creation of a carved stone. With the completion of a plaster, the work

15423-457: The crystal growth stage. Nucleation occurs on a pre-existing solid surface because not as much energy is required for a partial interface surface as for a complete spherical interface surface. This can be advantageous because fine-grained castings possess better properties than coarse-grained castings. A fine grain structure can be induced by grain refinement or inoculation , which is the process of adding impurities to induce nucleation. All of

15582-522: The cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, as well as many in Central and South America and Africa. The Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece , and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the Middle Ages , Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith. The revival of classical models in

15741-471: The cylinder seal tradition with designs which are often exceptionally energetic and refined. The monumental sculpture of ancient Egypt is world-famous, but refined and delicate small works exist in much greater numbers. The Egyptians used the distinctive technique of sunk relief , which is well suited to very bright sunlight. The main figures in reliefs adhere to the same figure convention as in painting, with parted legs (where not seated) and head shown from

15900-403: The earliest form: images created by removing part of a rock surface which remains in situ , by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. Monumental sculpture covers large works, and architectural sculpture , which is attached to buildings. Hardstone carving is the carving for artistic purposes of semi-precious stones such as jade , agate , onyx , rock crystal , sard or carnelian , and

16059-464: The exception of the art of the Amarna period of Ahkenaten , and some other periods such as Dynasty XII, the idealized features of rulers, like other Egyptian artistic conventions, changed little until after the Greek conquest. Egyptian pharaohs were always regarded as deities, but other deities are much less common in large statues, except when they represent the pharaoh as another deity; however

16218-733: The fact that the pattern is invested, or surrounded, with a refractory material. The wax patterns require extreme care for they are not strong enough to withstand forces encountered during the mold making. One advantage of investment casting is that the wax can be reused. The process is suitable for repeatable production of net shape components from a variety of different metals and high performance alloys. Although generally used for small castings, this process has been used to produce complete aircraft door frames, with steel castings of up to 300 kg and aluminium castings of up to 30 kg. Compared to other casting processes such as die casting or sand casting , it can be an expensive process. However,

16377-437: The foam with its heat. In dentistry, gold crowns, inlays and onlays are made by the lost-wax technique. Application of Lost Wax technique for the fabrication of cast inlay was first reported by Taggart. A typical gold alloy is about 60% gold and 28% silver with copper and other metals making up the rest. Careful attention to tooth preparation, impression taking and laboratory technique are required to make this type of restoration

16536-674: The forger rotates the rod and gradually forms a sharpened point from the blunt end of a steel rod. Glass may be used for sculpture through a wide range of working techniques, though the use of it for large works is a recent development. It can be carved, though with considerable difficulty; the Roman Lycurgus Cup is all but unique. There are various ways of moulding glass : hot casting can be done by ladling molten glass into moulds that have been created by pressing shapes into sand, carved graphite or detailed plaster/silica moulds. Kiln casting glass involves heating chunks of glass in

16695-601: The fragmentary Stele of the Vultures is an early example of the inscribed type, and the Assyrian Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III a large and solid late one. The conquest of the whole of Mesopotamia and much surrounding territory by the Assyrians created a larger and wealthier state than the region had known before, and very grandiose art in palaces and public places, no doubt partly intended to match

16854-689: The head fragment of Ramesses V (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge). Hollow castings become more detailed and continue into the Eighteenth Dynasty , shown by the black bronze kneeling figure of Tutankhamun ( Museum of the University of Pennsylvania ). Cire Perdue is used in mass-production during the Late Period to Graeco - Roman times when figures of deities were cast for personal devotion and votive temple offerings . Nude female-shaped handles on bronze mirrors were cast by

17013-717: The impressions of cylinder seals and engraved gems), and cast metals such as pewter and zinc (spelter). But a vast number of other materials have been used as part of sculptures, in ethnographic and ancient works as much as modern ones. Sculptures are often painted , but commonly lose their paint to time, or restorers. Many different painting techniques have been used in making sculpture, including tempera , oil painting , gilding , house paint, aerosol, enamel and sandblasting. Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. One of Pablo Picasso 's most famous sculptures included bicycle parts. Alexander Calder and other modernists made spectacular use of painted steel . Since

17172-403: The indirect process. Many bronze statues or parts of statues in antiquity were cast using the lost wax process. Theodorus of Samos is commonly associated with bronze casting. Pliny also mentions the use of lead , which is known to help molten bronze flow into all areas and parts of complex moulds. Quintilian documents the casting of statues in parts, whose moulds may have been produced by

17331-469: The innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples , of which none have survived, were evidently rather small, even in the largest temples. The same is often true in Hinduism , where the very simple and ancient form of the lingam is the most common. Buddhism brought the sculpture of religious figures to East Asia , where there seems to have been no earlier equivalent tradition, though again simple shapes like

17490-536: The latest the idea of the Ka statue was firmly established. These were put in tombs as a resting place for the ka portion of the soul , and so we have a good number of less conventionalized statues of well-off administrators and their wives, many in wood as Egypt is one of the few places in the world where the climate allows wood to survive over millennia. The so-called reserve heads , plain hairless heads, are especially naturalistic. Early tombs also contained small models of

17649-411: The liquid , solidification shrinkage and patternmaker's shrinkage . The shrinkage of the liquid is rarely a problem because more material is flowing into the mold behind it. Solidification shrinkage occurs because metals are less dense as a liquid than a solid, so during solidification the metal density dramatically increases. Patternmaker's shrinkage refers to the shrinkage that occurs when the material

17808-471: The location where the pools joined are now one continuous piece of metal. Also used heavily in Oxy-fuel sculpture creation is forging. Forging is the process of heating metal to a certain point to soften it enough to be shaped into different forms. One very common example is heating the end of a steel rod and hitting the red heated tip with a hammer while on an anvil to form a point. In between hammer swings,

17967-575: The lost wax process. Scenes on the early-5th century BC Berlin Foundry Cup depict the creation of bronze statuary working, probably by the indirect method of lost-wax casting. The lost-wax method is well documented in ancient Indian literary sources. The Shilpa Shastras , a text from the Gupta Period ( c.  320 –550 AD), contains detailed information about casting images in metal. The 5th-century AD Vishnusamhita , an appendix to

18126-477: The lost-wax process are characteristic of northeast Thailand . Some of the bangles from Ban Na Di revealed a dark grey substance between the central clay core and the metal, which on analysis was identified as an unrefined form of insect wax. It is likely that decorative items, like bracelets and rings , were made by cire perdue at Non Nok Tha and Ban Chiang . There are technological and material parallels between northeast Thailand and Vietnam concerning

18285-708: The lost-wax process. The lost-wax technique came to be known in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age . It was a major metalworking technique utilized in the ancient Mediterranean world, notably during the Classical period of Greece for large-scale bronze statuary and in the Roman world . Direct imitations and local derivations of Oriental , Syro - Palestinian and Cypriot figurines are found in Late Bronze Age Sardinia , with

18444-450: The lost-wax technique to copper casting comes from a 6,000-year-old ( c.  4000 BC ) copper, wheel-shaped amulet found at Mehrgarh , Pakistan. Metal casting, by the Indus Valley civilization , produced some of the earliest known examples of lost-wax casting applied to the casting of copper alloys, a bronze figurine, found at Mohenjo-daro , and named the " dancing girl ", is dated to 2300-1750  BCE . Other examples include

18603-588: The lost-wax technique was used for small-scale, and then later large-scale copper and bronze statues. One of the earliest surviving lost-wax castings is a small lion pendant from Uruk IV . Sumerian metalworkers were practicing lost-wax casting from approximately c.  3500 –3200 BC. Much later examples from northeastern Mesopotamia / Anatolia include the Great Tumulus at Gordion (late 8th century BC), as well as other types of Urartian cauldron attachments. The oldest known example of applying

18762-779: The lost-wax technique. The sites exhibiting artifacts made by the lost-mould process in Vietnam, such as the Dong Son drums , come from the Dong Son , and Phung Nguyen cultures, such as one sickle and the figure of a seated individual from Go Mun (near Phung Nguyen, the Bac Bo Region), dating to the Go Mun phase (end of the General B period, up until the 7th century BC). Cast bronzes are known to have been produced in Africa by

18921-430: The low cost of the plaster and its ability to produce near net shape castings. The biggest disadvantage is that it can only be used with low melting point non-ferrous materials, such as aluminium , copper , magnesium , and zinc . Shell molding is similar to sand casting, but the molding cavity is formed by a hardened "shell" of sand instead of a flask filled with sand. The sand used is finer than sand casting sand and

19080-529: The majority of the surviving works (other than pottery ) from ancient cultures, though conversely traditions of sculpture in wood may have vanished almost entirely. However, most ancient sculpture was brightly painted, and this has been lost. Sculpture has been central in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent centuries, large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include

19239-540: The material is moving too fast then the liquid material can erode the mold and contaminate the final casting. The shape and length of the gating system can also control how quickly the material cools; short round or square channels minimize heat loss. The gating system may be designed to minimize turbulence, depending on the material being cast. For example, steel, cast iron, and most copper alloys are turbulent insensitive, but aluminium and magnesium alloys are turbulent sensitive. The turbulent insensitive materials usually have

19398-471: The material more rapidly than round or square runners. For materials where the dross is a similar density to the base material, such as aluminium, runner extensions and runner wells can be advantageous. These take advantage of the fact that the dross is usually located at the beginning of the pour, therefore the runner is extended past the last gate(s) and the contaminates are contained in the wells. Screens or filters may also be used to trap contaminates. It

19557-501: The nucleations represent a crystal, which grows as the heat of fusion is extracted from the liquid until there is no liquid left. The direction, rate, and type of growth can be controlled to maximize the properties of the casting. Directional solidification is when the material solidifies at one end and proceeds to solidify to the other end; this is the most ideal type of grain growth because it allows liquid material to compensate for shrinkage. Cooling curves are important in controlling

19716-495: The oldest known manufactured golden objects, and the oldest objects known to have been made using lost wax casting. Some of the oldest known examples of the lost-wax technique are the objects discovered in the Nahal Mishmar hoard in southern Land of Israel , and which belong to the Chalcolithic period (4500–3500 BC). Conservative Carbon-14 estimates date the items to around 3700 BC, making them more than 5700 years old. In Mesopotamia , from c.  3500 –2750 BC,

19875-457: The only traditional subjects for stone sculpture outside tombs and temples. The kingdom of plants is important only in jewellery and decorative reliefs, but these form almost all the large sculpture of Byzantine art and Islamic art , and are very important in most Eurasian traditions, where motifs such as the palmette and vine scroll have passed east and west for over two millennia. One form of sculpture found in many prehistoric cultures around

20034-575: The original colours. There are fewer original remains from the first phase of the Classical period, often called the Severe style ; free-standing statues were now mostly made in bronze, which always had value as scrap. The Severe style lasted from around 500 in reliefs, and soon after 480 in statues, to about 450. The relatively rigid poses of figures relaxed, and asymmetrical turning positions and oblique views became common, and deliberately sought. This

20193-444: The other deities are frequently shown in paintings and reliefs. The famous row of four colossal statues outside the main temple at Abu Simbel each show Rameses II , a typical scheme, though here exceptionally large. Small figures of deities, or their animal personifications, are very common, and found in popular materials such as pottery. Most larger sculpture survives from Egyptian temples or tombs; by Dynasty IV (2680–2565 BCE) at

20352-463: The over-life sized stone Urfa Man from modern Turkey comes from about 9,000 BCE, and the 'Ain Ghazal Statues from around 7200 and 6500 BCE. These are from modern Jordan , made of lime plaster and reeds, and about half life-size; there are 15 statues, some with two heads side by side, and 15 busts. Small clay figures of people and animals are found at many sites across the Near East from

20511-420: The palm of one's hand to those large enough for a train car bed (one casting can create the entire bed for one rail car). Sand casting also allows most metals to be cast depending on the type of sand used for the molds. Sand casting requires a lead time of days, or even weeks sometimes, for production at high output rates (1–20 pieces/hr-mold) and is unsurpassed for large-part production. Green (moist) sand, which

20670-529: The payment of craftsmen for their work on the Erechtheum in Athens (408/7–407/6 BC). Clay-modellers may use clay moulds to make terracotta negatives for casting or to produce wax positives. Pliny portrays Zenodorus  [ fr ] as a well-reputed ancient artist producing bronze statues, and describes Lysistratos of Sikyon , who takes plaster casts from living faces to create wax casts using

20829-438: The payment of what are usually regarded as full-time sculptors, is considered a mark of a relatively advanced culture in terms of social organization. Recent unexpected discoveries of ancient Chinese Bronze Age figures at Sanxingdui , some more than twice human size, have disturbed many ideas held about early Chinese civilization, since only much smaller bronzes were previously known. Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as

20988-496: The process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal , such as silver , gold , brass , or bronze ) 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 (4550–4450 BC) and attributed to gold artefacts found at Bulgaria's Varna Necropolis . A copper amulet from Mehrgarh , Indus Valley civilization , in Pakistan,

21147-417: The process today varies from foundry to foundry (in modern industrial use, the process is called investment casting). Variations of the process include: "lost mould ", which recognizes that materials other than wax can be used (such as tallow , resin , tar , and textile ); and "waste wax process" (or "waste mould casting"), because the mould is destroyed to remove the cast item. Casts can be made of

21306-399: The production of cast glass sculptures. The original sculpture is made from wax. The sculpture is then covered with mold material (e.g., plaster), except for the bottom of the mold which must remain open. When the mold has hardened, the encased sculpture is removed by applying heat to the bottom of the mold. This melts out the wax (the wax is 'lost') and destroys the original sculpture. The mold

21465-444: The quality of a casting. The most important part of the cooling curve is the cooling rate which affects the microstructure and properties. Generally speaking, an area of the casting which is cooled quickly will have a fine grain structure and an area which cools slowly will have a coarse grain structure. Below is an example cooling curve of a pure metal or eutectic alloy, with defining terminology. [REDACTED] Note that before

21624-437: The rate of product crystallization (solidification) may be adjusted in a crystallizer - a high-temperature resistant device that cools a growing metal rod or pipe by using water. The method is comparable to Czochralski method of growing silicon (Si) crystals, which is a metalloid . Metal casting processes uses the following terminology: Some specialized processes, such as die casting, use additional terminology. Casting

21783-406: The relative status of sculpture and painting. Much decorative sculpture on buildings remained a trade, but sculptors producing individual pieces were recognised on a level with painters. From the 18th century or earlier sculpture also attracted middle-class students, although it was slower to do so than painting. Women sculptors took longer to appear than women painters, and were less prominent until

21942-535: The round, and is the typical technique used both for architectural sculpture , which is attached to buildings, and for small-scale sculpture decorating other objects, as in much pottery , metalwork and jewellery . Relief sculpture may also decorate steles , upright slabs, usually of stone, often also containing inscriptions. Another basic distinction is between subtractive carving techniques, which remove material from an existing block or lump, for example of stone or wood, and modelling techniques which shape or build up

22101-503: The ruins at Sirkap . One example of this Indo-Greek art dates to the 1st century BCE , the juvenile figure of Harpocrates excavated at Taxila . Bronze icons were produced during the 3rd and 4th centuries, such as the Buddha image at Amaravati , and the images of Rama and Kartikeya in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. A further two bronze images of Parsvanatha and

22260-588: The semi-solid metal, along with the use of controlled die filling conditions, ensures that the semi-solid metal fills the die in a non-turbulent manner so that harmful porosity can be essentially eliminated. Used commercially mainly for aluminium and magnesium alloys, SSM castings can be heat treated to the T4, T5 or T6 tempers. The combination of heat treatment, fast cooling rates (from using uncoated steel dies) and minimal porosity provides excellent combinations of strength and ductility. Other advantages of SSM casting include

22419-541: The side, but the torso from the front, and a standard set of proportions making up the figure, using 18 "fists" to go from the ground to the hair-line on the forehead. This appears as early as the Narmer Palette from Dynasty I. However, there as elsewhere the convention is not used for minor figures shown engaged in some activity, such as the captives and corpses. Other conventions make statues of males darker than females ones. Very conventionalized portrait statues appear from as early as Dynasty II, before 2,780 BCE, and with

22578-495: The slaves, animals, buildings and objects such as boats necessary for the deceased to continue his lifestyle in the afterworld, and later Ushabti figures. The first distinctive style of ancient Greek sculpture developed in the Early Bronze Age Cycladic period (3rd millennium BCE), where marble figures, usually female and small, are represented in an elegantly simplified geometrical style. Most typical

22737-458: The speed of the liquid, turbulence, and trapping dross . The gates are usually attached to the thickest part of the casting to assist in controlling shrinkage. In especially large castings multiple gates or runners may be required to introduce metal to more than one point in the mold cavity. The speed of the material is important because if the material is traveling too slowly it can cool before completely filling, leading to misruns and cold shuts. If

22896-464: The splendour of the art of the neighbouring Egyptian empire. Unlike earlier states, the Assyrians could use easily carved stone from northern Iraq, and did so in great quantity. The Assyrians developed a style of extremely large schemes of very finely detailed narrative low reliefs in stone for palaces, with scenes of war or hunting; the British Museum has an outstanding collection, including

23055-535: The still-liquid center, gradually solidifying the metal from the outside in. After solidification, the strand, as it is sometimes called, is continuously withdrawn from the mold. Predetermined lengths of the strand can be cut off by either mechanical shears or traveling oxyacetylene torches and transferred to further forming processes, or to a stockpile. Cast sizes can range from strip (a few millimeters thick by about five meters wide) to billets (90 to 160 mm square) to slabs (1.25 m wide by 230 mm thick). Sometimes,

23214-442: The strand may undergo an initial hot rolling process before being cut. Continuous casting is used due to the lower costs associated with continuous production of a standard product, and also increased quality of the final product. Metals such as steel, copper, aluminum and lead are continuously cast, with steel being the metal with the greatest tonnages cast using this method. The upcasting (up-casting, upstream, or upward casting)

23373-473: The temple of the Todaiji monastery at Nara . It was made in sections between 743 and 749, allegedly using seven tons of wax. The Dunaverney (1050–910 BC) and Little Thetford (1000–701 BC) flesh-hooks have been shown to be made using a lost-wax process. The Little Thetford flesh-hook, in particular, employed distinctly inventive construction methods. The intricate Gloucester Candlestick (1104–1113 AD)

23532-454: The tenth century was the widowed Chola queen, Sembiyan Maha Devi. Chola bronzes are the most soughtafter collectors’ items by art lovers all over the world . The technique was used throughout India, as well as in the neighbouring countries Nepal , Tibet , Ceylon , Burma and Siam . The inhabitants of Ban Na Di were casting bronze from c.  1200 BC to 200 AD, using the lost-wax technique to manufacture bangles . Bangles made by

23691-428: The term properly covers many types of small works in three dimensions using the same techniques, including coins and medals , hardstone carvings , a term for small carvings in stone that can take detailed work. The very large or "colossal" statue has had an enduring appeal since antiquity ; the largest on record at 182 m (597 ft) is the 2018 Indian Statue of Unity . Another grand form of portrait sculpture

23850-401: The thermal arrest the material is a liquid and after it the material is a solid; during the thermal arrest the material is converting from a liquid to a solid. Also, note that the greater the superheat the more time there is for the liquid material to flow into intricate details. The above cooling curve depicts a basic situation with a pure metal, however, most castings are of alloys, which have

24009-411: The wax model itself, the direct method, or of a wax copy of a model that need not be of wax, the indirect method. These are the steps for the indirect process (the direct method starts at step 7): Prior to silica-based casting moulds, these moulds were made of a variety of other fire-proof materials, the most common being plaster based, with added grout, and clay based. Prior to rubber moulds gelatine

24168-413: The work from the material. Techniques such as casting , stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work; many of these allow the production of several copies. The term "sculpture" is often used mainly to describe large works, which are sometimes called monumental sculpture , meaning either or both of sculpture that is large, or that is attached to a building. But

24327-476: The world is specially enlarged versions of ordinary tools, weapons or vessels created in impractical precious materials, for either some form of ceremonial use or display or as offerings. Jade or other types of greenstone were used in China, Olmec Mexico, and Neolithic Europe , and in early Mesopotamia large pottery shapes were produced in stone. Bronze was used in Europe and China for large axes and blades, like

24486-573: Was combined with a better understanding of anatomy and the harmonious structure of sculpted figures, and the pursuit of naturalistic representation as an aim, which had not been present before. Excavations at the Temple of Zeus, Olympia since 1829 have revealed the largest group of remains, from about 460, of which many are in the Louvre . Lost-wax casting Lost-wax casting  – also called investment casting , precision casting , or cire perdue ( French: [siʁ pɛʁdy] ; borrowed from French )  – is

24645-510: Was employed in prehispanic times in Colombia's Muisca and Sinú cultural areas. Two lost-wax moulds, one complete and one partially broken, were found in a shaft and chamber tomb in the vereda of Pueblo Tapado in the municipio of Montenegro ( Department of Quindío ), dated roughly to the pre-Columbian period. The lost-wax method did not appear in Mexico until the 10th century, and

24804-608: Was entirely religious, with leading clergy being commemorated with statues, especially the founders of monasteries, but not rulers, or ancestors. The Mediterranean tradition revived, initially only for tomb effigies and coins, in the Middle Ages, but expanded greatly in the Renaissance, which invented new forms such as the personal portrait medal . Animals are, with the human figure, the earliest subject for sculpture, and have always been popular, sometimes realistic, but often imaginary monsters; in China animals and monsters are almost

24963-452: Was made as a single-piece wax model, then given a complex system of gates and vents before being invested in a mould. The lost-wax casting tradition was developed by the peoples of Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Panama , Colombia , northwest Venezuela , Andean America, and the western portion of South America . Lost-wax casting produced some of the region's typical gold wire and delicate wire ornament, such as fine ear ornaments. The process

25122-514: Was thereafter used in western Mexico to make a wide range of bell forms. Some early literary works allude to lost-wax casting. Columella , a Roman writer of the 1st century AD, mentions the processing of wax from beehives in De Re Rustica , perhaps for casting, as does Pliny the Elder , who details a sophisticated procedure for making Punic wax. One Greek inscription refers to

25281-415: Was used. The methods used for small parts and jewellery vary somewhat from those used for sculpture. A wax model is obtained either from injection into a rubber mould or by being custom-made by carving. The wax or waxes are sprued and fused onto a rubber base, called a "sprue base". Then a metal flask, which resembles a short length of steel pipe that ranges roughly from 3.5 to 15 centimeters tall and wide,

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