ANCESTRAL
CASTING
FACT SHEET
DECEMBER, 2002

7000 B.C.

    Mud and skeletal ancestral masks created for ritual worship by the tribes of New Guinea are the first examples in the history human casting.

5000 B.C.

    The first artistic creation from the skull, plaster and jewel encrusted excavated in Jericho.

1500 B.C.

    Body castings used in the production of the sarcophagus that transports the dead to the afterlife in Egypt.

150 B.C.

    Death castings are used in Rome to make statuary and busts. With these, families preserve their history. In many instances there would be a special place within the home for these castings

1300 A.D.

    England begins the tradition of royal castings, displaying the portraits from Edward the second forward in Westminster Abbey.

1390 A.D.

    First documentation of the life casting process, Cenino d'Andrea Cenini's “Il Librio del Arte”, the Craftsman's Handbook, details how life castings were preformed during the Renaissance. A lengthy and uncomfortable experience that deterred the ready acceptance of life casting for 600 more years.

1970's A.D.

    The art of life casting is revolutionized by the ready availability of plaster impregnated gauze. Taking the actual time of the casting from 45 - 60 minutes, down to only 10 minutes.

2002 A.D.

    The revival of ancestral masking marks the true beginning of a new millennium in portraiture.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Derek Weaver
Masquerade Life Casting
1029 KC 434, Harper,TX 78631
830 864-5327