A material record / Metal
Gold leaf
Gold beaten into sheets so thin that a single book of leaf can gild a frame, a ceiling or a Christmas ornament.
01 / Origin
Where it comes from.
Gold leaf is made by interleaving thin plates of gold with layers of gold-beater’s skin and hammering them until the metal spreads into a continuous film about 0.1 micrometre thick. It is usually cut into 3-inch squares and sold in books of 25 sheets.
It has been used since at least 2600 BCE. Standard leaf is 23.5 carat; lemon gold and pale gold are alloyed with silver, which makes them thicker and easier to handle. Gilders lay it on furniture, frames and plaster.
In the Atlas: Egypt
02 / Colour
The colours it gives.
Sampled from the material, at the numbered points.
A warm, mirror-bright yellow where the leaf lies flat, deepening to amber and brown in its creases.
- 01Highlight
#C88D34 - 02Body
#B4741F - 03Crease
#94560E
03 / In the studies
Where it appears.
6 studies use it.
- Strasbourg ChristmasA small interruption of light
- Art Deco HolidayFine wrinkles / a warm glint
- Chapelle Star VaultFine wrinkles break reflected light into bright fragments.
- The Lunar CabinetKeep the warm metal to a line, a rim or a small interruption of light.
- AmberGilding kept to frames and edges.
- Rome: Porphyry & SerpentineA small warm metal note, used for lamps, frames and pulls.
Care
Gold leaf is fragile until sealed. Handle gilded ornaments by their edges and dust them with a soft brush, not a cloth.