Gilding
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Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal, wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gil
Gilded frame ready for burnishing with an agate stone tool
Belt Buckle with nomadic-inspired zoomorphic design, manufactured in China for the Xiongnu. Mercury-gilded bronze (a Chinese technique invented by the Daoists in the 4th century CE). North China, 3rd–2nd century BC.
Regilding the statue Prometheus
Gilded page edges on a book
Gold leaf
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Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets by a process known as goldbeating, for use in gilding.
Gilding
…gilt-bronze is commonly used in China, and also called ormolu if it is Western. Methods of gilding include hand application and gluing, typically of gold leaf, chemical gilding, and electroplating, the last also called gold plating. Parcel-gilt (partial gilt) objects are only gilded over part of their surfaces…
A gold nugget 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 ft2). The Toi gold mine museum, Japan.
Mycenaean necklace; 1400–1050 BC; gilded terracotta; diameter of the rosettes: 2.7 cm (1.1 in), with variations of about 0.1 cm (0.04 in), and a pendant length of 3.7 cm (1.5 in); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
An engraving showing the goldbeating process, 1698
22k gold leaf applied with an ox hair brush during the process of gilding