Galeria Cano: National Geographic

The

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
recognizes
Galeria Cano's

work and tradition

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

January, 1974

FACE="ARIAL"

A goldsmith duplicates masterworks of the past

National Geographic, January 1974

To create exquisiste gold ornaments, South American Indians employed the lost-wax process, a technique that evolved in many parts of the ancient world. Demanding patience and skill, the process rewarded its practitioners with objects of surpassing beauty.

Then came the Europeans, searching relentlessly for gold. The Indians, fearful that working with the metal would attract plunder and death, ceased producing their work of art. Guillermo Cano of Bogotá uses the lost-wax method to cast precise replicas of pre-columbian artifacts. Today Cano employs 15 artisans to meet demand from abroad and at his two galleries in Bogotá.

In the sequence that follows, a Cano craftsman reproduces an elaborate nose pendant of the Tayrona people, made in the Santa Marta region of Colombia perhaps a thousand years ago.

Using rubbery dental paste, the worker makes two molds: one of each side of the artifact.

Then, for demonstration purposes, he pours black wax into a mold of one side. Normally the two molds are joined at the edges like the halves of a clam shell before the wax is poured in.

Prying open the mold, the artisan examines the wax casting, adding or removing bits of wax to achieve fidelity to the original.

Perching the casting on five hollow supports, he brushes on thin coatings of plaster, layer upon layer. After he has built a solid mold he heats it, causing the wax to melt and drain out through the supports. Then he pours in molten gold. So that it will penetrate to every part of the cavity, he spins the mold on a centrifuge &endash;a technique probably unknown to the indians.

Breaking the cooled gold casting from the plaster mold, the crafstman holds a precise replica of the pendant. A spurt of water washes away clinging plaster.

	The NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY recognizes Galeria Cano's work and tradition NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC January, 1974 FACE="ARIAL" A goldsmith duplicates masterworks of the past National Geographic, January 1974 To create exquisiste gold ornaments, South American Indians employed the lost-wax process, a technique that evolved in many parts of the ancient world. Demanding patience and skill, the process rewarded its practitioners with objects of surpassing beauty. Then came the Europeans, searching relentlessly for gold. The Indians, fearful that working with the metal would attract plunder and death, ceased producing their work of art. Guillermo Cano of Bogotá uses the lost-wax method to cast precise replicas of pre-columbian artifacts. Today Cano employs 15 artisans to meet demand from abroad and at his two galleries in Bogotá. In the sequence that follows, a Cano craftsman reproduces an elaborate nose pendant of the Tayrona people, made in the Santa Marta region of Colombia perhaps a thousand years ago.
	Using rubbery dental paste, the worker makes two molds: one of each side of the artifact.
	Then, for demonstration purposes, he pours black wax into a mold of one side. Normally the two molds are joined at the edges like the halves of a clam shell before the wax is poured in.
	Prying open the mold, the artisan examines the wax casting, adding or removing bits of wax to achieve fidelity to the original.
	Perching the casting on five hollow supports, he brushes on thin coatings of plaster, layer upon layer. After he has built a solid mold he heats it, causing the wax to melt and drain out through the supports. Then he pours in molten gold. So that it will penetrate to every part of the cavity, he spins the mold on a centrifuge &endash;a technique probably unknown to the indians.
	Breaking the cooled gold casting from the plaster mold, the crafstman holds a precise replica of the pendant. A spurt of water washes away clinging plaster.