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Ancient Methods of Gilding Silver : Heather N Chapter 1 Ancient Methods of Gilding Silver : Heather N. lechtman Examples from the Old and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology New Worlds Introduction To illustrate a representative selection of eventually appear golden . Depletion gilding ancient techniques for the gilding of silver, techniques are thus based upon chemical I have chosen material from two distinct reactions that occur only at the surfaces geographical regions . the Near East- more of alloys .2 They include process es that specifically Turkey and Iran- on the one rely on solid -state diffusion reactions at a hand , and South America - very precisely , moderately high temperature . that is. all the northern coast of Peru- on the other . Mise -en-cQu/eur and cementation techniques The objects from the Near East all cluster such as removal of copper from about the third through the sixth centuries tumbaga . of silver from gold -silver alloys . A.D., from the Sasanian empire in Iran and and of both copper and silver from silver- from one of the most splendid periods of copper -gold alloys . Electrochemical proc - the early Byzantine empire with its capital esses. for example superficial parting . are at Constantinople . It is difficult to date the also included in the term . particular Peruvian objects discussed in this paper with the same accuracy as the The distinction between gilding and coloring Old World artifacts . They span a much is not meaningful from the aesthetic broader period of time , ranging from the point of view. Both types of process lead classic Vicus period (ca . 400 B.C.- A.D. 100 ) to results that. at least under the usual through that of the Chimu culture . which conditions of viewing and handling an object was prominent in Peru roughly from AiD. are similar. But the distinction does 1000 until the time of the Inca conquest have significance from the standpoint of in 1470 . But the rigors of precise dating technology. for the metallurgical principles of artifactual material need not be of concern and operations involved are quite different here, for the purpose of this investigation and stem from two approach es to the use is to demonstrate the ways in of materials that are. in a sense. philo- which craftsmen . at various points and sophically distinct. The objects I shall discuss places in history , have used virtually the from the Near East are all examples same materials but have arrived at totally of true gilding. while those from northern different yet completely effective solutions Peru may prove to illustrate a unique variety to a specific problem , the gilding of silver . of gold-coloring technique. True Gilding and In any discussion of gilding metal . the distinctionAside from the modern process es of electrolyticMethods of Applying is usually made between true Depletion Gilding plating . electrochemical plating . an External Layer of gilding and process es that may be subsumed sputtering . and other methods of depositing Gold under the term depletion gilding . a thin gold film from solution or from often referred to as gold coloring .l True the vapor phase, there have been relatively gilding techniques involve the external application few techniques for the external application of gold to the surface of some of gold . These have utilized gold other metal . Upon its application the two in the solid state , in the molten state , and metals may. in certain instances . undergo in the form of an amalgam whose properties interalloying and complete metallic bonding . lie somewhere between those of the Process es of depletion gilding . on the other two . Solid gold has been applied other hand . always begin with the gold most often in the form of thin sheets of already alloyed with some other metal . In foil or leaf, although finely powdered gold such cases. the object is to remove has also been used .3 To differentiate between enough of the alloying element so that gold foil and gold leaf. I shall ar- the surfaces become enriched in gold and bitrarily define foil as sheet metal that is greater than about one micron in thickness 1Paul Bergs9'e's plea for and definition of this ( 1f1. = 10- 3 mm), while leaf constitutes clarification of terms is classic. In discussing the thicknesses smaller than this value . process of Mise-en-couleur he remarks: " However This definition is not altogether peremptory '.0 , when this process is described as 'gilding,' , since there is a marked difference in a protest must be lodged in the name of metallurgy . By gilding we understand a process by the way in which sheet gold handles means of which an overlay of gold is applied to when it becomes much thicker than about the object externally. If the gilding proceeds a micron . The metal is as malleable when from the gold In the object itself, it can at most thick as it is thin , but it cannot follow be called coloration. This, however, is only a question of terminology and has no actual bearing 2No discussion will be made here of the many upon the subject, but I call attention to it, recipes for creating golden surfaces on metal as it seems to me a pity that anthropologists without the use of any metallic gold. These and metallurgists make use of a different termi- abound in the early literature Some are alchemi- nology when speaking of metal." (Reference2, cal in nature. and others involve simple coloring pp 35 - 36 .) Rather than use Bergs~G's term substitutes, but none is a metallurgical process " coloration," which has also been used to describein the strict sense Ancient Methods of coloring methods that do not utilize me- 31 am referring not to the use of gold powder Gilding Silver : Examples tallic gold (see next note), I prefer depletion gildIng as a pigment in an organic binder which is then from the Old and the and define it as the enrichment of a surface painted onto a metallic surface but rather to the New Worlds in gold by removal of other alloying elements rubbing of very finely divided gold onto a clean 2 already present. metallic surface to which it bonds mechanically. sharp changes of contour easily, tends to bond caused by the melting together of buckle perceptibly and to retain the wrinkling the metals at their interface . An interesting upon burnishing , and to become account of such a technique is given by very springy when burnished cold . The Paul Bergs~e and is based upon his studies mechanical application of thick foil to of the gilding practices of the pre- metal surfaces of widely varying topog - Columbian peoples of Esmeraldas in Ecuador raphy is therefore quite difficult , whereas . He concluded that the Indians gilded it is easily accomplished with the thinner very small cast copper objects by flushing leaf . Discussion of the first two objects on the gold -copper alloy of lowest melting from the Near East shows this difference point . (Reference 2) It would be well to quite clearly . reexamine this material . both metallo - graphically and with the electron microbeam Regardless of whether foil or leaf was probe . to reassess Bergs~e's interpretation used . some auxiliary means of attaching . the gold to the substrate metal had to be found . The most direct method was that Finally. the peculiar properties of the of simple mechanical bonding . Either the amalgam of gold have made it an ideal surfaces of the substrate were deliberately material for gilding metals. one that has roughened to accept the applied and subsequently been used extensivelysince at least the burnished - on gold or the topog - first century AiD. and probably even earlier raphy of those surfaces . which included . Gold and mercury. when gently all their decorative features . was varied heated. together form an alloy that. on enough to constitute an adequately cooling. is of a pasty consistency. As long toothed stratum onto which the gold as the metal to be gilded will also amalgamate could be burnished and held mechanically with mercury. this pasty alloy can . Once the gold was in place . the entire conveniently be spread over those areas of object might have been heated to a surface to be gilded. If desired. other cause sufficient solid - state diffusion of the areas may be left untreated. When the object two metals across their common interface is heated to a temperature above the so that a zone of interalloyed metal . albeit boiling point of free mercury (356 C). the very thin . might then form an additional mercury in the amalgam volatilizes leaving and very strong bond to hold the two together the gold behind. The gold is thus held in . Thin sheet gold has also been ap - place as the result of solid-state diffusion plied to metal surfaces with organic between it and the substrate metal. often binders of various types . a not uncommon with the formation of intermediate compounds practice in ancient Egypt . 4 and . finally , . Several of the Near Eastern objects mercury has frequently been used as the illustrated here were gilded by the agent to facilitate the bonding of leaf to amalgam process. and the details of the substrate metal . 5 technique are given with the descriptive and analytic material. The application of gold in the molten form to a metallic surface is much rarer chiefly The Indians of pre-Columbian Central and Depletion Gilding : because it is a much more difficult technique South America were master goldsmiths . It A Contribution of . it is more wasteful of gold . and it is not extraordinary , therefore , to find that , Pre - Columbian does not lend itself easily to parcel gilding . when it came to gilding metals , they employedMetallurgy that is . to the gilding of only certain areas a wide variety of techniques ranging of a metallic surface for the decorative from the use of gold foils through the contrasts produced between gilded and fusion gilding procedure described earlier nongilded metal .
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