Piece-mold casting is a bronze-production technique in which a clay model is used to create multiple reusable mold segments (an outer shape and an inner core) into which molten metal is poured through a channel (sprue), allowing the same mold components to be reused for producing multiple identical bronze objects. This concept belongs to the study of ancient Chinese decorative/ritual art (Bronze Age China, Shang and Zhou dynasties) and relates to the parent discipline of art history as an example of how production technique, rather than only style, is used to identify, date, and interpret ritual objects, and as an early instance of modular/mass production predating industrial-era assembly-line manufacturing.
Piece-mold casting is a bronze-production technique in which a clay model is used to create multiple reusable mold segments (an outer shape and an inner core) into which molten metal is poured throug…