Academia Sinica Logo

［IHP Museum Exhibition Info］

Spirit of a Bronze Caster: Techniques from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
English Website: https://museum.sinica.edu.tw/en/exhibitions/167/

The Shang (ca. 1600-1046 BCE) and Zhou (ca. 1046-256 BCE) dynasties bronzes, dated more than 3,000 years ago, with their distinctive forms and intricate motifs, continue to fascinate us today. How these exquisite bronzes were cast has long been a subject of scholarly interest. Initially, scholars could only deduce the assemblage of the clay molds (taofan) used in bronze casting by analyzing traces left on the surfaces of the artifacts. Then in the 1930s, the Institute of History and Philosophy (IHP), Academia Sinica, had first excavated clay molds from Hsiao-t'un at the Yinxu, and later discoveries were made in areas centered in in Zhengzhou, Yanshi, and Luoyang, all of Henan province, as well as in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Anhui provinces. However, many aspects of clay molds still elude current research.

In view of the above, the IHP, the Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum (Kyoto, Japan), and Ashiyagamanosato (Fukuoka, Japan) in 2018 signed a collaborative agreement regarding the replication and joint research of bronze casting techniques. This exhibition is the result of multiple efforts. Organized by these three organizations, "Pouring One's Soul" features both works cast by replication experiments and various artifacts of casting bronzes in IHP collections, with the hope of furthering our understanding of bronzes from the perspective of casting.

The exhibition is divided into two parts: the first introduces the casting of bronzes via graphic, textual, and video as demonstrated on the walls of the exhibition area, contents of which include the discovery of clay molds as well as findings from our replication efforts such as the raw materials of bronzes, melting copper, and the production of molds, among others. The second exhibits artifacts related to bronze casting held by the IHP, including materials used in melting and the clay molds as well as models of cast chüeh, ku, handled yu, square i, ting, chariot fittings, and weapons. Finally, the research and experiment results of early IHP researchers on clay molds are also introduced.