Gold leaf
[citation needed] Traditional water gilding is the most difficult and highly regarded form of gold leafing.
5,000 years ago, Egyptian artisans recognized the extraordinary durability and malleability of gold and became the first goldbeaters and gilders.
[3] Except for the introduction of a cast-iron hammer and a few other innovations, the tools and techniques have remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years.
[citation needed] Gold-leaf forging is a traditional handicraft in Nanjing (China), produced as early as the Three Kingdoms (220–280 AD) and Two Jins (266–420) dynasties; it was used in Buddha-statue manufacturing and construction.
It retains traditional smelting, hand-beating and other techniques, and the gold leaf is pure, uniform and soft.
On May 20, 2006, it was included[citation needed] in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative items.
In the early days of the trade, ox intestine membrane (Goldbeater's skin) was used to interleave the gold as it was beaten.
When the cutch is filled with the small gold squares, it is wrapped in several bands of parchment which serve to hold the packet together during the beating.
Parchment is still the best material known to withstand the hours of repeated hammer blows needed to beat the gold.
[citation needed] The packet is rotated and turned over to ensure that the gold inside expands evenly in all directions.
The gold-ground style, where the background of the figures was all in gold, was introduced in mosaics in later Early Christian art.
[20] Since the decline of gold ground painting, gold leaf has been most popular and most common in its use as gilding material for decoration of art (including statues and Eastern Christian icons) or the picture frames that are often used to hold or decorate paintings, mixed media, small objects (including jewellery) and paper art.
[26] The mosaics were made of stone, tile or glass backed on gold leaf walls, giving the church a beautifully intricate backdrop.
The basilica's 16th-century coffered ceiling, designed by Giuliano da Sangallo, is said to be gilded with gold that Christopher Columbus presented to Ferdinand and Isabella, before being passed on to the Spanish pope, Alexander VI.
The top two floors of the Golden Pavilion in the temple of Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan, which originally dates back to 1399, are entirely covered with 20 kg of 0.5 μm gold leaf.
[29] In Ottawa, Ontario, the Centre Block is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill, containing the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of members of parliament, senators, and senior administration for both legislative houses.
[31] One of the restaurant's most famous features is the 'glistering' ceiling of gold mosaic, coved at the sides and patterned all over with lines and ornaments in blue and white tesserae.
The wall decoration accords well with the real yellow gold leaf ceiling, incorporating semi-precious stones such as jade, mother of pearl, turquoise being lined with warm marble and formed into blind arcades with semi-elliptical arches resting on slender octagonal columns, their unmolded capitals and the impost being encrusted with goldground mosaic[32] Gold leaf adorns the wrought iron gates surrounding the Palace of Versailles in France, when refinishing the gates nearly 200 years after they were torn down during the French Revolution, it required hundreds of kilograms of gold leaf to complete the process.
In India it may be used effectively as a garnish, with thin sheets placed on a main dish, especially on festive occasions.
[37] In Continental Europe liquors with tiny floating pieces of gold leaf are known of since the late 16th century; originally the practice was regarded as medicinal.
