Restoration
Matching a replacement bronze piece
A customer breaks one piece of a five-item altar set. What a foundry needs to cast a match, and when matching an older bronze is not worth trying.
A customer drops one crane from a five-piece altar set bought three years ago and wants it replaced, not refunded. Usually we can cast a match, if the set follows a standard Vietnamese pattern and you still hold its pair. Shape is the easy part; colour is the hard part. Here is what we need from you, what we promise in writing, and when matching an old bronze is not worth attempting.
When can a single piece be matched?
Three things decide it.
- Is there a surviving twin? Cranes and candlesticks come in pairs. An intact twin gives us a physical reference for height, stance and pattern.
- Is the pattern a standard one? Most household altar sets follow a small number of long-running Vietnamese patterns, and those match from photographs. A one-off commission from another workshop means new tooling.
- How old is the rest of the set? Three years on a family altar means smoke, incense oil and hands. A new casting will not arrive at that surface, whatever we do to it.
Three favourable answers make it routine work — see restoration and matching. Three unfavourable ones mean telling the customer early.
What photos and measurements does the foundry need?
Send it as one package.
- Four photographs on a plain white ground — front, both sides, back. These give the silhouette and the proportions we scale from.
- Close-ups of the ornament — dragon, lotus or cloud work. Pattern depth is what makes a match convincing at arm’s length.
- Three measurements — overall height, widest point, base diameter, with the tape in the photograph if you can.
- A photograph of the underside — foot rings and casting marks tell us which workshop family the piece belongs to.
- One photograph in daylight, no flash — the colour reference. A flash reading of a patinated surface is useless to us.
Better still, post one small surviving piece to us. A sample in the hand beats any photograph.
Why colour is harder to match than shape
Shape is geometry and we can measure it. Patina is a chemical finish on a hand-poured surface, and it keeps moving for years after the piece leaves the workshop. This is what we work from when only part of a set survives.
| Piece | How it is sized in the set | Reference figure | What we can match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Censer (dinh) | The anchor; the set takes its nominal size from this piece | A dinh 60 measures about 57 cm in fact | Shape and pattern; height to within 1–3 cm |
| Cranes, pair | 5–7 cm taller than the censer | Read off the censer you still hold | Height, stance, pattern |
| Candlesticks, pair | 12–15 cm shorter than the censer | Read off the censer you still hold | Height, stem ornament |
| Whole set, size 65 | Five pieces | About 36 kg complete | Per-piece weight given on the quotation |
| Any piece | Wall thickness | 5 mm body, 8 mm at load-bearing points | Matched to the surviving piece |
Note the tolerance in the first row. Hand casting varies by 1–3 cm and we treat that as normal; more than 5 cm off is a reject we remake at our cost. We do not promise an exact match on height, and you should not either.
Can an old piece be repaired instead of replaced?
Often, and it is usually the better answer. A cracked foot, a snapped crane leg, a lifted handle, a dented rim: all repairable. A repaired original keeps the surface the rest of the set has, which no new casting can. Send the same photograph package and we will say whether it is a repair, a recast, or beyond help. Corrosion through the wall is beyond help.
If the set has gone dull rather than broken, that is a cleaning question: bronze care and storage for distributors covers what is safe on a patinated surface and what strips it for good.
How long does a match take?
Casting runs 21–30 days after drawing approval, and approval is the step buyers forget to budget for. Before that clock starts we send photographs of the pattern to sign off; after casting, photographs of the finished piece beside your reference images. Two approval rounds, neither skipped on a matching job.
Matching across new production batches is a different problem: repeat orders and batch matching covers that case.
What to tell the end customer before promising a match
Say three things and you will not get a complaint. It will match in shape and pattern. It will be a centimetre or two off in height, because it is cast by hand in sand. And it will read newer than its neighbours for about a year, after which the gap closes as it takes on smoke and handling. Customers accept all three beforehand and none of them afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
One of five pieces broke. Can I order just that piece?
Yes. Single-piece replacement is normal work, and it need not clear a minimum on its own — add it to your next order and it travels with the rest.
The set was bought somewhere else. Can you still match it?
If it follows a standard Vietnamese pattern, usually yes. Send the photograph package and we will say whether it is a match, an approximation, or new tooling.
Can you reproduce an old patina?
We get close on tone, closest of all when you send a surviving piece. We cannot reproduce years of incense and handling, and will not claim to.
How long from photographs to delivered piece?
21–30 days casting after you approve the drawing, plus finishing and freight. Add time for the two photo approvals and for consolidation with your next shipment.
Do I have to send the broken piece to Vietnam?
No. Photographs and measurements are enough for most matches. A small intact piece — not the broken one — only helps the colour, and we return it with the order.
Have a case open right now? Send the photographs, the three measurements and what the customer was told. Within two working days we will say whether it is a repair, a recast or a no. Use request a quote, or message the workshop on WhatsApp or Zalo at +84 926 199 999. If it is easier to hold the piece up to a camera, we will take the call from the floor. Showrooms in Nam Dinh, Hanoi and Hai Phong.