One of the important aspects of civilization is found on the ability to cast bronze into different forms, something that originated from the ancient Chinese. In fact, by 1700 BCE, the Chinese had already acquired the necessary skills for bronze casting. During the time, some of the uses of cast bronze included the tools, ritual artifacts as well as weapons. The technology used by the Chinese for casting bronze entailed the use of models and removable molds, a technique still in use today. Some of the ancient artifact remains have been found in many other civilizations across the world, like in Egypt and India.
Many discoveries of the ancient Chinese bronze continue to be made till today, with many studies conducted in an attempt to understand some of the concepts used during the time. For instance, some discoveries of Shang bronze were made in 1960 and a study conducted on the appearance and the mode of casting. In the historical context, it showed a high level of casting method that can easily relate to the current methods used in molding. One of the important aspects of the Chinese bronze is seen in the relationship between the techniques used during the time and the Chinese traditions. This means that tradition was an important aspect of the ancient designs used for casting bronze. In fact, the most important point that comes from the many discoveries of Chinese cast bronze is the traditional components of the items made. As noted above, bronze was useful in enhancing the traditional values through the manufacture of tools, weapons and ritual items.
Manufacture of the Shang bronze entailed making of clay cores that could be used to produce some of the artistic cast bronze at the time. The techniques involved ensured that the appearance was appealing while at the same time representing the traditional values at the time. The casting technique of using the molds ensures the aesthetic value that made the Shang bronze designs appealing as the method was adopted for other materials, other than bronze. It is important to note that artistic freedom led to the many discovering in terms of different designs and the models. Another aspect of the ancient artifacts made of cast bronze brings the aspect of usage. For instance, it comes out from the numerous studies that some of the materials manufactured were for the noble use while others were for the ordinary use. This is evident from the designs available.
The different shapes of the cast bronze are an indication of the various uses of the materials at the time. Therefore, the technology allowed the artists during the time to come up with a number of shapes that could easily make tools for various uses. An important of the Chinese cast bronze comes from the use of clay in order to make metals objects as well as the molds used for casting. This is a departure from the techniques used by the European and the Mediterranean that entailed various models with wax coating. For the Chinese models, the required model was casted using the clay, after which another layer of clay was used to make another coat that would be carefully removed to make molds. The original core was then shaved into shape to act as the core of the mold, while the outer layer would be reassembled to act as the outer wall. Casting involved placing the molten bronze in the space between the core and the outer wall and then allowed to cool. The mold could be removed and the object polished to make it beautiful. This technology remains in use till today.