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Which regions of the Americas became especially skilled in lost-wax casting?
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metalwork
Warrior and attendants plaque, brass relief sculpture by Edo artists in the court of the kingdom of Benin (now Nigeria), 16th–17th century; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
In the context of pre-Columbian decorative arts, the lost-wax casting method was highly developed in several regions of the Americas, specifically Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico.1
While the technique is thought to have spread northward from Peru through Ecuador and these intervening areas, it reached a peak of technical and artistic sophistication in the regions mentioned above. Notably, the Mixtec goldsmiths of Mexico produced miniature, hollow lost-wax castings that are renowned for their exceptional delicacy, realism, and precision. Similarly, artisans in Panama created solid-cast ornaments of such fine, tiny detail that they require magnification to be fully appreciated.1