# Casting

This brass (a copper and zinc alloy) censer is made of two openwork hemispherical parts cast using the lost-wax technique. This method allows a metal sculpture to be obtained from a wax model: the model is encased in a mold of refractory material, called a "potée mold." The mold is heated so that the wax flows out, leaving a space where the molten metal is then poured. The mold is then broken to release the resulting metal pieces.