Gilded Metals

An exploration of the global history, techniques, and conservation of gilding-from ancient foil and leaf methods to modern electroplating. Covering materials, corrosion, and treatments, it offers insights into both the art and science behind gilded surfaces across cultures and eras.

Gold has been celebrated as a symbol of luxury, wealth, and power throughout history and around the world. This rare metal is prized for its color, its unique luster, its special working properties, and its permanence. The technique of gilding, creating a thin layer of gold over a less valuable material, developed to satisfy the desire for gold. Through this lavishly illustrated volume, readers will discover how various cultures created golden surfaces and how the allure of gold inspired new and ingenious technology. Each chapter is authored by experts, discussing gilding in ancient societies in Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and the Americas, as well as medieval gilding practices and more recent technologies in the West. Gilding on architectural metal and outdoor sculpture is also included. Readers will learn about foil and leaf gilding, depletion and diffusion techniques, fire gilding and electroplating, among others. Those interested in how and why gilded metal surfaces deteriorate will find answers in a chapter on corrosion chemistry. Cleaning gilded surfaces takes special expertise. Readers will find valuable insights throughout the book on conservation concerns and considerations, such as why one should never polish gold on a work by Faberge, and cautions on cleaning “gilded” surfaces that may not be gold at all. Some chapters are devoted to case studies of conservation treatments.

Contributors Preface A History of Gilding with Particular Reference to Statuary Andrew Oddy Corrosion Chemistry of Gilded Silver and Copper Lyndsie Selwyn The Selective use of Gilding on Egyptian Polychromed Bronzes Patricia S. Griffin Gilded Silver from Ancient Nubia Susanne Gansicke and Richard Newman Two Gilded Bronze Sculptures from the Athenian Agora Alice Boccia Paterakis Gilding in Britain: Celtic, Roman, and Saxon Peter Northover and Kilian Anheuser A Study of the Gilding of Silver in Byzantium Pete Dandridge The Gilding of Metals in China Paul Jett and W.T. Chase Archaelogical Gilded Metals Excavated in Japan Ryu Murakami Three Gilded Tibetan Vessels Bruce Christman Lacquer as an Adhesive for Gilding on Copper Alloy Sculpture in Southeast Asia Donna K. Strahan and Christopher A. Maines A Review of Gilding Techniques in Ancient South America David A. Scott The Characterisation of Gold Layers on Copper Artifacts from the Piura Valley (Peru) in the Early Intermediate Period Silvia A. Centeno and Deborah Schorsch Gilding Techniques of the Renaissance and After Andrew Lins The Use of Mercury Salts in Gold Electroplating Andrew Lins and Sally Malenka The Fabrication of Gilt Bronze Mounts for French Eighteenth-century Furniture Brian Considine and Michel Jamet The Many Golds of Faberge: Recognition and Guidelines for Care Carol Aiken All That Glitters is not Gold: Other Surfaces that Appear to be Gilded Jonathan Thornton The Treatment of False Gilding: A Case Study Deborah Long Richard Lippold's The Sun - Investigation and Treatment Considerations Jack Flotte and Jean Dommermuth Preservation of a Gilded Monumental Sculpture: Research and Treatment of Daniel Chester French's Quadriga Linda Merk-Gould Architectural Gilding on Exterior Metal: An Overview of Materials and Methodology Michael W. Kramer,

Contributors

Preface

A History of Gilding with Particular Reference to Statuary

Andrew Oddy

Corrosion Chemistry of Gilded Silver and Copper

Lyndsie Selwyn

The Selective use of Gilding on Egyptian Polychromed Bronzes

Patricia S. Griffin

Gilded Silver from Ancient Nubia

Susanne Gansicke and Richard Newman

Two Gilded Bronze Sculptures from the Athenian Agora

Alice Boccia Paterakis

Gilding in Britain: Celtic, Roman, and Saxon

Peter Northover and Kilian Anheuser

A Study of the Gilding of Silver in Byzantium

Pete Dandridge

The Gilding of Metals in China

Paul Jett and W.T. Chase

Archaelogical Gilded Metals Excavated in Japan

Ryu Murakami

Three Gilded Tibetan Vessels

Bruce Christman

Lacquer as an Adhesive for Gilding on Copper Alloy Sculpture in Southeast Asia

Donna K. Strahan and Christopher A. Maines

A Review of Gilding Techniques in Ancient South America

David A. Scott

The Characterisation of Gold Layers on Copper Artifacts from the Piura Valley (Peru) in the Early Intermediate Period

Silvia A. Centeno and Deborah Schorsch

Gilding Techniques of the Renaissance and After

Andrew Lins

The Use of Mercury Salts in Gold Electroplating

Andrew Lins and Sally Malenka

The Fabrication of Gilt Bronze Mounts for French Eighteenth-century Furniture

Brian Considine and Michel Jamet

The Many Golds of Fabergé: Recognition and Guidelines for Care

Carol Aiken

All That Glitters is not Gold: Other Surfaces that Appear to be Gilded

Jonathan Thornton

The Treatment of False Gilding: A Case Study

Deborah Long

Richard Lippold's The Sun - Investigation and Treatment Considerations

Jack Flotte and Jean Dommermuth

Preservation of a Gilded Monumental Sculpture: Research and Treatment of Daniel Chester French's Quadriga

Linda Merk-Gould

Architectural Gilding on Exterior Metal: An Overview of Materials and Methodology

Michael W. Kramer

• Edited by Terry Drayman-Weisser

"It is an impressive volume [and] greatly enhances the recent conservation literature on the topic of gilding...Gilded Metals: History, Technology, and Conservation is an eminently useful collection of exceptional papers on the subject..." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 43(1) (2004) 116-119
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It is an impressive volume [and] greatly enhances the recent conservation literature on the topic of gilding...Gilded Metals: History, Technology, and Conservation is an eminently useful collection of exceptional papers on the subject...

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