Lost-wax casting

Process by which a duplicate metal sculpture is cast from an original one

Lost-wax casting – also called investment casting, precision casting, or cire perdue (French: [siʁ pɛʁdy]; borrowed from French) – is 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.

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