ROGATA KOGEI / JAPANESE LOST-WAX CASTING
About 1,300 years ago / 700s / Nara Period (710–794)
Lost-wax casting begins with a model made in wax, which is surrounded by refractory material. Heating removes the wax, leaving a cavity into which molten metal is poured. The method was used for ancient Buddhist sculpture and metalwork in Japan and survives in highly detailed ritual objects, incense burners and sculpture.
In Japan, the technique remains important because it can cast branches, fingers, openwork and other complicated forms that would be difficult to remove from a reusable mold. Contemporary sculptors and jewelers use the same principle alongside traditional Buddhist crafts.
Its defining feature is sacrifice: the original wax model disappears before the metal object exists. Because the wax is completely melted out, the first “sculpture” cannot be reused. The craft literally requires one object to be lost in order for the final one to be born.