The metallurgy of Chinese cast iron statuary
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Published
Nov 13, 2021
Abstract
A group of 19 Chinese cast iron objects, mainly statuary and ritual objects, dating from between the 8th and 19th centuries AD, has been subjected to microstructural and compositional analysis. The objects were found to represent a range of cast iron types, including white cast irons with both divorced eutectic and ledeburitic microstructures, ferritic and pearlitic grey cast irons, and mottled cast iron. The microstructure of each object was found to be explicable by the chemical composition of the iron, especially its silicon,
phosphorus and sulphur contents. The different chemical compositions can be accounted for by different smelting conditions, such as the use of coke or charcoal as furnace fuel, and the smelting of iron ore from different ore bodies. The sulphur contents, while not providing definitive evidence, suggest that at least some of the cast irons were smelted using coal or coke rather than charcoal. Where it was possible to tell, specifically for the white and mottled irons, the objects had been cast using the piece mould process. This work
increases appreciably the corpus of analytical results for Chinese iron of this time period.
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References
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Paludan A 1994, ‘The Tang dynasty iron oxen at Pujin bridge’, Orientations (May 1994), 61–68.
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Rostoker W and Bronson B 1990, Pre-industrial iron (Philadelphia: Archeomaterials Monograph 1).
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Sung Ying-hsing 1966, T’ien-k’ung k’ai-wu [Chinese technology in the seventeenth century], translated by E’Tu Zen Sun and Shio-Chuan Sun, (Pennsylvania and London).
Till B and Swart P 1993, ‘Cast iron statuary of China’, Orientations (August 1993), 40–45.
Tylecote R F 1976, A History of Metallurgy (London).
Wagner D B 1989, Toward the reconstruction of ancient Chinese techniques for the production of malleable cast iron, East Asian Institute Occasional Papers no. 4, University of Copenhagen, East Asian Institute.
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Wagner D B 2000, ‘Chinese monumental iron castings’, J. East Asian Archaeology 2, 199–224.
Wagner D B, unpublished manuscript, draft for Science and Civilization in China, Ferrous Metallurgy volume.
Wayman M L and Wang H 2003, ‘Iron coins of Song dynasty China: a metallurgical study’, Historical Metallurgy 37(1), 6–24.
Bredt C 1985, ‘Ming cast-iron, a Chinese industrial revolution?’, unpublished paper from a working day on the late Ming period held at the Far Eastern Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, March 21, 1985.
Bronson B 1999, ‘The transition to iron in ancient China’, in V C Pigott (ed)T, he archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 16, 177–193.
Burton Brown T 1950, ‘Third to early second millennium iron’, Man 50, 7–9.
Chakrapani D G 2002, ‘Analysis of an ancient Chinese cast iron statue’, Advanced Materials and Processes 160(2), 39–40.
Chen Jianli, Han Rubin and Wan Xin 2003, ‘The Manufacturing technique of ferrous artefacts excavated from Xianbei gravesite at Lamadong Village of Liaoning Province’, in P Jett, J Winter, J Douglas and B McCarthy (eds), Scientific Research in the Field of Asian Art, Proc. First Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art (London), 70–78.
Cowell M, LaNiece S and Rawson J 2003, ‘A study of later Chinese metalwork’, in P Jett, J Winter, J Douglas and B McCarthy (eds), Scientific Research in the Field of Asian Art, Proc. First Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art (London), 80–89.
Craddock P T 2003, ‘Cast iron, fined iron, crucible steel: liquid iron in the ancient world’, in P Craddock and J Lang (eds), Mining and metal production through the ages (London), 223–248.
Craddock P T, Wayman M L, Wang H and Michaelson C, 2003, ‘Chinese cast iron through twenty-five hundred years’, in P Jett, J Winter, J Douglas and B McCarthy (eds), Scientific Research in the Field of Asian Art, Proc. First Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art (London), 36–46.
Han Rubin 1996, ‘The development of Chinese ancient iron blast furnace’, Forum for the 4th Intl. Conf. on the Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA-IV) (Shimane), 151–174.
Hartwell R 1962, ‘A revolution in the Chinese iron and coal industries during the Northern Sung, 960–1126 AD’, J Asian Studies 21, 153–162.
Hartwell R 1966, ‘Markets, technology and the structure of enterprise in the development of the 11th century Chinese iron and steel industry’, J Econ. History 26, 29–58.
Henger G W 1970, ‘The metallography and chemical analysis of iron-base samples dating from antiquity to modern times’, Historical Metallurgy 4, 45–52, erratum 1971 5, 11.
Kerr R 1990, Later Chinese bronzes (London).
Moffatt E A, Shugar A N, Sirois P J and Stock S 2001, ‘A materials investigation into the metal composition, coating structures and treatment of four Ming dynasty cast iron statues’, paper presented at Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society, Boston, Nov. 26–30th, 2001. Manuscript online at www.lehigh.edu/~inarcmet/papers/mrs%20fall%202001.pdf
Paludan A 1994, ‘The Tang dynasty iron oxen at Pujin bridge’, Orientations (May 1994), 61–68.
Pinel M L, Read T T and Wright T A 1938, ‘Composition and microstructure of ancient iron castings’, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers 131, 174–194.
Pleiner R 2000, Iron in archaeology, the European bloomery smelters (Prague).
Rawson J 1993, ‘Chinese iron technology: the workshop and the factory’, paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Los Angeles, March 1993.
Rehder J E 1987, ‘The change from charcoal to coke in iron smelting’, Historical Metallurgy 21, 37–43.
Rostoker W and Bronson B 1990, Pre-industrial iron (Philadelphia: Archeomaterials Monograph 1).
Rostoker W B, Bronson B, Dvorak J and Shen G 1983, ‘Casting farm implements, comparable tools and hardware in ancient China’, World Archaeology 15, 196–210.
Rostoker W, Bronson B and Dvorak J 1984, ‘The cast iron bells of China’, Technology and Culture 25, 750–767.
Sung Ying-hsing 1966, T’ien-k’ung k’ai-wu [Chinese technology in the seventeenth century], translated by E’Tu Zen Sun and Shio-Chuan Sun, (Pennsylvania and London).
Till B and Swart P 1993, ‘Cast iron statuary of China’, Orientations (August 1993), 40–45.
Tylecote R F 1976, A History of Metallurgy (London).
Wagner D B 1989, Toward the reconstruction of ancient Chinese techniques for the production of malleable cast iron, East Asian Institute Occasional Papers no. 4, University of Copenhagen, East Asian Institute.
Wagner D B 1993, Iron and steel in ancient China (Leiden).
Wagner D B 2000, ‘Chinese monumental iron castings’, J. East Asian Archaeology 2, 199–224.
Wagner D B, unpublished manuscript, draft for Science and Civilization in China, Ferrous Metallurgy volume.
Wayman M L and Wang H 2003, ‘Iron coins of Song dynasty China: a metallurgical study’, Historical Metallurgy 37(1), 6–24.
How to Cite
The metallurgy of Chinese cast iron statuary. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 38(1), 10-23. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/250
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How to Cite
The metallurgy of Chinese cast iron statuary. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 38(1), 10-23. https://www.hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/250