White accretion on the back of this work may be residue from the “plaster mold” process in use at Gorham by this date. In contrast to casts made by lost wax, casts made by the “plaster-mold” method have very smooth carved-looking interior surfaces. No drips or bubbles are apparent. This is because the core is formed first as a full size version of the sculpture and then reduced by paring down the surface a quarter inch or so as was done for sand casting cores. To speed production it is likely that for a large series a cast would have been made of the first pared-down core.

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.