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Hello,

Can someone tell me:

were entire series made of the same bronze object in the Meiji period?
By this I mean that one mold was used to make a lot of the same thing.
Or did artists always made one unique item ?

thank you ..

Greetings

IMO, these Meiji period objects and 'okimono' (ornaments) in bronze were unique because the Japanese metalworkers used the Lost-wax casting technique were the the mould is destroyed to remove the cast item.

Guy.

URL Title :Lost-wax casting

While I am inclined to agree in principle with the above statement, the evidence suggests that perhaps not the artists themselves but possibly the company representing them made casts of popular bronze figures and proceeded to cast numerous over the coming years or possibly decades.
IMHO it is quite easy to discern an early casting from a later one with subsequent castings having less and less detail with each reproduction.
I think the real gems are the few okimono out there that weren't produced en masse & there only exists a single example.

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