Lost-wax bronze casting with Patan's metalworkers

Patan's metalworkers have cast religious images for over a thousand years, and in medieval times Newar craftsmen from these lanes worked on monasteries in Tibet. The method is cire perdue, lost wax: a figure is modelled in beeswax and resin, covered in clay, heated so the wax runs out, and filled with molten metal. The clay mould is then broken and the rough figure cleaned and carved.

We visit two or three workshops, usually family-run, to see different stages. In one, a young craftsman models wax fingers, one by one. In another, an older man chases the details of a crown with small chisels. Some workshops also do fire gilding and fine painting of faces, a separate skill passed down in families.

There is no pressure to buy. If you do want a piece, we explain how to tell hand-finished work from mass-produced castings, what fair prices look like, and why you need a receipt and an export certificate for any piece that might look old. Statues take weeks or months to finish, so good pieces are not cheap.