The First Chinese Civilizations

The bronze caster wiped the sweat from his brow with his apron, then took up the long tongs and drew the heavy crucible, full of molten bronze, from the furnace. With careful concentration he swung the crucible to one side until it was directly above the strange object of fired clay, with its funnel-like opening in the top. This was a piece mold, an intricate assemblage of pieces of fired clay, bearing the shapes and decoration of a ritual vessel on their inner face. Gently tipping the crucible, the worker poured the molten bronze slowly and steadily into the opening. There was a hiss as hot air issued from tiny holes in the sides of the clay mold, but silence returned as the bronze settled and began to cool. It would take several hours before the mold could be taken apart and removed. Then a little more work would be needed to finish the vessel, cleaning up the elaborate animal-mask decoration with a chisel, polishing the surface, and cutting away any excess metal that had formed between the joints of the mold. But he felt well pleased with the work. It would no doubt earn a handsome reward from the Shang nobleman who had ordered it. He would use it in banquets, invoking the ancestors, and pass it on to his heirs, until at last, one day, it would be placed with one of them in the grave, to serve them in the afterlife as it had in this.