The Mystery Bronzes of Sanxingdui

Liu Ke

Graduated from Sichuan University with a Master’s degree in art history and southwest ethnic folk art research， Liu Ke is a teacher at the Art School of Sichuan Top IT Vocational Institute and a Sichuan Science Writers’ Association member.

The Mystery Bronzes of Sanxingdui is the first picture storybook with the theme of historical and cultural elements of Sanxingdui in China. The book starts with the 1929 discovery of a large number of jade artifacts created by the ancient Shu near Moon Bay in Guanghan， Sichuan Province. It leads readers into the ancient city of Sanxingdui more than 3，000 years ago， and goes back to the creators of those great works of art: watching the Sanxingdui people collect ores， smelt raw materials， make clay molds， and cast and assemble bronzes.

The Mystery Bronzes of Sanxingdui

Liu Ke

Sichuan Children’s Publishing House Co.，Ltd

July 2017

15.80 (CNY)

Ore Mining

Mining high-quality ore is the first step in making bronze wares. Sanxingdui had a vast territory with abundant mineral resources， easily providing the necessary materials for bronze production. Scholars believe that the Sanxingdui people mined copper and tin for bronze production at Longmen Mountain near Chengdu. Scientists have found copper， tin， and lead in this area.

Ore Smelting

Ores collected were smelted， or heated at high temperatures， to extract the metal from the rock. Archaeologists found remains of bronze foundries but not of smelters or kilns at Sanxingdui. They reasoned that raw materials for bronze production were smelted at the mines before being transferred to the foundries. Doing so saved the trouble of moving large amounts of ore and allowed for better control over component proportion used in bronze production.

Production of the Clay Mold

Metals extracted from smelting were transported to the bronze foundries in Sanxingdui. Before they were remelted， artisans had to prepare the clay mold used in casting. The production of clay molds is similar to that of ceramics.

The steps are as follows:

First， prepare a desirable mixture of clay by filtering and kneading.

Second， create molds out of the clay.

Lastly， heat the molds in kilns.

The design of the bronzes is completed during the process of creating the mold. The result of the finished mold determines the look of the final bronze figure.

Casting and Assembling

Once the mold and molten bronze are ready， we can start casting. Pour the molten bronze into the mold carefully to fill the space between the core and the mold. After the molten bronze cools and solidifies， the mold is broken to reveal the sculpture. Look! We have a beautiful bronze object after just a little polishing. Complex and huge bronze objects would require a technique known as composite casting. In this process， smaller parts of a larger bronze object were cast separately and assembled. Many exquisite ancient bronzes found at Sanxingdui were made using composite casting.