The employment of wax in imitative art dates from a period anterior to historical times, although, according to Pliny, it was not cast in moulds previous to the time of Lysistratus, who flourished about 300 B. C, and whose productions, said to be the first of their kind, were chiefly portraits cast in plaster moulds taken from the face. Wax portraits eventually became common, and among the Romans, who placed them in the vestibules of their houses, were regarded as an evidence of ancient nobility, as none were allowed to possess such images whose families had not borne some curule magistracy. Polybius relates that these images, habited in the costume appropriate to their age and rank, were carried in funeral processions, or seated in chairs in the forum. In the middle ages wax was employed in the construction of images of saints and of votive images, and those who practised sorcery melted before a slow fire wax figures of the persons against whom their incantations were directed. In the latter half of the 15th century Andrae del Verrocchio and Orsino gained considerable reputation by some figures of Lorenzo de' Medici, their joint production, which consisted of frameworks of wood or skeletons for the bodies and limbs, while the heads, hands, and feet were cast in wax, painted in oil colors to counterfeit life.

They were furnished with glass eyes and natural hair, and habited in the costume usually worn by Lorenzo. Vasari speaks of the life-like appearance of these figures, and adds that the art declined rapidly after the time of Orsino. The manufacture of wax figures of the size of life is still carried on to a considerable extent, but has long ceased to be considered a branch of the fine arts, no imitative skill or taste on the part of the artist being sufficient to overcome the ghastly fixedness which such images must always present. In the preparation of anatomical models and pathological examples, however, wax has been very advantageously employed, the invention being due to Gaetano Giulio Zummo, a famous modeller in colored wax, who flourished in the latter half of the 17th century. But this employment of wax has been to a great extent superseded by papier maché, which is much stronger and more durable, and can be more safely and conveniently handled in the lecture room. (See Anatomical Preparations.) Flowers are made from thin leaves of colored wax, and receive their local tints by means of a pencil.