Diagram depicting a version of the cut-back-core process:
1) a plaster piece mold composed of smaller pieces to account for the undercuts is formed on the model; the sections are held together by an outer mother mold;
2) the piece mold is removed from the model; core support rods and wires are positioned as needed in the partially reassembled empty mold;
3) the mold is fully reassembled and filled with refractory material (here plaster-based) to create a replica of the original model;
4) the surface of the replica is pared down (cut back) to form the core of the mold, thereby creating the space that will be filled first by wax and later by metal;
5) the cut-back core is placed back into the piece mold, suspended in place by the core support rods that also serve as core pins in this example;
6) molten wax is filled into the cavity around the core, thereby creating the inter-model;
7) the inter-model is removed from the mold and reworked as needed; the sprue system is joined to it with a heated tool and the assemblage is invested in a refractory mold;
8) the mold is baked to dry it thoroughly and to burn out all traces of the wax;
9) the mold is filled with molten metal;
10) the bronze is freed of the investment, sprues, and protruding core supports;
11) in the final stages the bronze surface may be refinished with details, then joined to the separately cast arms and base and a patina applied.
Diagram based on Michel Anguier (French 1612/14–1686), Melancholy Pluto, before 1699, H. 23.9 cm (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Grünes Gewölbe, Dresden, inv. IX.37). See Bassett, Jane, and Francesca G. Bewer. 2014. “The Cut-Back Core Process in Late 17th- and 18th-Century French Bronzes.” In French Bronze Sculpture: Materials and Techniques 16th–18th Century, edited by David Bourgarit, Jane Bassett, Francesca G. Bewer, Geneviève Bresc-Bautier, Philippe Malgouyres, and Guilhem Scherf, 205–14. Paris: Archetype..