Oral history

Bronze Casting at Aigbe Foundry Pt. 9: Bronze Casting

About the interview
Object Production

After properly heating the wrapped mould in the furnace, it is then brought out to be buried in the shallow pit. These moulds are carefully arranged before the molten brass or bronze is brought out of the furnace with a small crucible (Akhe) carried with a tongue (Awan). The molten brass/bronze is poured into the hot mould. At this stage, the casters monitor the reaction of the mould to the molten brass that is being poured. This is the bronze casting stage where the molten brass is poured into the hollow cavity created by the loss of wax during heating in the furnace. The molten brass takes the shape of the wax as it fills the vacuum.

About the contributors

Referenced in this interview

Sensitive Content

Digital Benin collates digital material from institutions, and some of this material is inherently colonial and contains words, terms and phrases that are inaccurate, derogatory and harmful towards African and African diasporic communities. Catalogue transcriptions, book titles, exhibition titles and museum titles may contain harmful terms. We recognise the potential for the material to cause physical and mental distress as well as evoke strong emotions. Owing to the scale of the collection’s data, a process to implement sensitive-content warnings in the displayed data is still incomplete. The material within the catalogue does not represent Digital Benin’s views. Digital Benin maintains a strong anti-colonial, anti-racist position and affirms its support for centring the humanity of historically marginalised and disenfranchised communities. Read more about the background of this statement here

Info
About
Other