Iron Lion of Cangzhou

The Iron Lion of Cangzhou is a forged iron sculpture positioned in Cangzhou City, in Hebei Province, China, about 180 km southwest of Beijing. Cast in 953, the iron lion is the biggest known and oldest surviving iron-forged artwork in China. The iron lion become forged the usage of a chunk-moulding method in a single mildew. In this technique, which has also been used in historical Chinese bronze-casting, a clay model of the sculpture is made and protected with a brand new layer of clay after drying.

This outer layer of clay is then cut into portions and eliminated earlier than it dries completely. In the following step, fabric is taken off the surface of the inner clay version if you want to provide room for pouring the iron between the outer and internal mildew. Hence, "seams" seen on the forged do not represent obstacles between separate iron pieces, but are impressions of the seams between the portions of the outer mildew. Casting did proceed in numerous ranges among which the iron already poured into the mould did settle down.

As a end result, fault lines had been delivered into the cast at regular intervals which mark the filling top of the mildew at successive casting stages. These fault lines had been bridged by means of the craftsmen wearing out the solid with pieces of wrought iron which have been plunged into the solidifying floor of the iron from the previous pour and then covered within the next pour. Traces of those bridging pegs in addition to the ones of wrought iron spacers used to split the outer mould from the center can nevertheless be observed in the sculpture.