Special thanks to the three Seiler brothers (Dieter, Jürgen and Wolfgang) for their hospitality, as well as for their permission to take photos and to post these to my website!
Inside the foundry
The first impression.
Life-size bronze of the famous "Hauptmann von Köpenick," resting horizontally on a pallet.
On the right: Dr. Jochen Richter, who hunted down the original Gladenbeck molds of
Rheinhold's monkey statuette (small version) and initiated its current re-edition.
On the left: Dieter Seiler.
From silicon form, to wax model, to raw cast
1. A negative silicon form with the impressions of the four original Gladenbeck mold pieces are used to produce wax positives.
Wolfgang Seiler inspects the wax positives. Close-up of the three smaller wax pieces.
The silicon negative (white) and the wax positive (purple) of the monkey's torso resting on a pile of books.
On the right: an assembled wax statuette.
The wax parts are joined to create the complete monkey-with-skull-figure.
2. The wax positives are embedded in a special kind of clay, held together in framed boxes.
Molten bronze is transferred into "buckets" ....
... and poured into passages leading to the enclosed wax positives. As the wax melts and burns away, the bronze takes up its space.
After cooling, the frames are removed (left), and the clay is carefully broken to release the raw casts (right).
Born is the statuette in the "rough." Now the time has come for
Dieter Seiler (left), the "Ziseleur"(Chiseler) among the brothers,
to get to work. On the right: Jürgen Seiler, the business manager
(died Dec. 2008).
The final product
The statuette after the "Ziseleur" has applied his artful craft.
(Photo courtesy of Jochen Richter)
Click here for the pertinent pages in the original Gladenbeck catalog.
▬▬►Readers interested in purchasing one of Seiler's re-editions of Rheinhold's monkey, please contact the Seiler foundry by email (bildgiesserei-seiler@t-online.de) or by regular mail (Bildgiesserei Seiler GmbH, An der Reihe 204, D-15566 Schoeneiche, Germany).
The statuette is available in two versions:
Click here for an explanation of the difference.
Rheinhold's Philosophizing Monkey Homepage
Professor
Library
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
900 Reserve
Stevens Point, WI 54481
USA
715-346-4658