African lost-wax casting "technique de la cire perdue" is said to date back to the 10th century from a site called Igbo-Ukwu in West Africa (part of Nigeria).
Alice Apley, an independent scholar, believes that the Igbo-Ukwu are « the earliest smithers of copper and its alloys in West Africa, working the metal through hammering, bending, twisting, and incising. They are likely among the earliest groups of West Africans to employ the lost-wax casting techniques in the production of bronze sculptures”
The casters carve the model out of wax, then add layers of clay, fine inner layers to allow model to be imprinted then outer coarser layers to build a strong structure for the whole process. Then the combined body is heated to make the wax melt, leaving the imprint of the desired shape inside the clay shell in which melted bronze or brass would be poured into. This technique was widely spread in the Kingdom of Benin and vividly remembered probably because of the brass commemorative Oba heads. The Asante Kingdom in Ghana, because of its vast gold reserve, developed the lost wax technique to design refined pieces of jewellery.
The technique is still very much an up-to-date technique used in many West African countries. One of them is Burkina Faso known for their stylized figurines and their wide palette of patinas. Craftspeople like the Derme family in Ouagadougou are known for mastering the technique. They do commissions for artists around the world. Apart from the figurines, jewellery pieces, craftspeople, designers design accessories such as door knobs for furniture pieces to perpetuate the technique and also bring a new touch to furniture and accent to your home.
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