Art of the Houma Foundry is an illustrated repertory of archaeological finds made at the site of a sixth-to fifth-century B.C. bronze foundry located at modern Houma in Shanxi Province, P.R.C. In the sixth and fifth centuries Houma was the capital of the state of Jin, a major power in China at the time. The excavation of the foundry site, the largest known in the ancient world, was important above all for the spectacular wealth of decorated clay foundry-debris that was recovered there. The debris throws valuable light on the very complex casting processes used at Houma; still more valuable is the evidence it provides for the varieties of decoration employed at the foundry. Bronzes unearthed at many different places in China, decorated with an immense variety of designs, can now be connected with Houma on the evidence of the foundry debris.
This book presents 1,200 of the most notable pieces of decorated foundry debris in photographs and drawings. Though unearthed more than thirty years ago, most of this material has never been published. Art of the Houma Foundry makes available to art historians, archaeologists, and museum curators an archive of unparalleled richness for one of the major art styles of ancient China.
