中国南方和东南亚古代铜鼓铸造技术探讨

On the Casting Technology of Ancient Bronze Drums in South China and Southeast Asia

荷兰学者贝纳特·坎普斯在1988年发表的巨著《东南亚铜鼓：青铜世界及其余波》^①应该算是西方学者继黑格尔1902年出版《东南亚古代金属鼓》^②之后研究铜鼓尤其是黑格尔Ⅰ型铜鼓的集大成之作。我对书中探讨东南亚铜鼓（包括中国南方铜鼓）铸造技术之处^③很感兴趣，

The bronze drums discovered in South China and Southeast Asia are largely made by means of the lost wax method （cire-perdue process） with design-bearing wax models as necessary tools. Because the need of transforming designs in relief and those in intaglio into each other, complex decorations must have been made largely by directly cutting wax models and partially by impressing with mold plates. The three-dimensional motifs on the drum body and face, such as frogs and birds, must have been shaped in the lost wax method and then joined to the main body by casting. As the technology of bronze drum making was rather high on the whole, the vertical lines on the drum body may have been intentionally made for strengthening aesthetic and orderly effects rather than the seams left over from the composite mold casting process.