Indonesia, Java

1st half of the 19th century

bronze, lost wax casting

MAP 17506

Lost wax cast – a technique different from mold cast – was invented in Mesopotamia in the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE, and a little later also in other regions of the world; it has been known for a long time and in many cultures. Its specificity is a unique and unrepeatable end product, as the model (surrounded with a wax layer) is lost in the production process (and the wax is molten and flows out). Both the mold cast and the lost wax cast are used to obtain full sculptures as well as thin-walled hollow ones.

In lost wax technique the production process is following: the original model (e.g. made from clay) is covered with wax, whose thickness is identical to that of the later bronze (the end product), and then is covered again with clay or with plaster, which is the later mold. In the subsequent process of burning the mold in the oven (or rinsing with hot water for plaster), wax flows out, leaving empty space where molten metal is poured, filling the mold. In the case of small objects, just after pouring the metal, the whole is set in a vortex motion, so that the metal flows (“pressed”) into all small depressions. After breaking the form, a ready item is obtained. Also there are casts made of few parts soldered with one

another – it is more so with complicated sculptures. At the end, each cast is chiseled (also a cast from the mold), i.e. the surface is worked with chisels, files, etching-needles etc. to smoothen, highlight details or give the desired facture (e.g. grained).

The theatre lamp is an item characteristic to Java. It is used as a source of light (performances take place by night) for buffalo hide flat puppets producing shadows onto the white cotton screen. The type of the lamp depicts the eagle Garuda   from   Hindu   mythology,   the   mount   of   Vishnu   (another   type   of

blenchongs shows a mountain and has cosmic symbolism; contemporarily oil lamps are often replaced with an electric bulb). The eagle wears a crown, as is in Indonesia it is symbolic for cosmos and royalty. The bird’s trunk is an oil tank, at the back there is a hole for refilling oil, and in front of the torso there is a small hearth to insert the wick. The silhouette of the bird is a bronze cast, composed of several separately cast fragments, then soldered together; the wings and tail are forged in a brown sheet and attached with bolts. The lamp is hung over the head of the puppeteer dalang who animates all the puppets during the performance.