Layer Bronze Casting

Narrator

The bronze pieces from Sanxingdui were made with sophisticated techniques not seen in the Central Plain. Both cultures used clay molds to shape the molten bronze, but artisans at Sanxingdui made frequent use of a technique called "casting on." This is making the piece in stages; casting one part, like a handle, then adding another mold such as the body of the vessel. They also put pieces together by soldering.

Suzanne Cahill

If you look at this piece carefully, if you look around the back of the head, and look at where the horn-like elements or wing-like elements or whatever the heck they are, are attached to the head, or to the headdress, you'll see clear marks of the soldering process.