Antique Gilt Wood Picture Frame. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Overall Size: 21 3/4 x 16 x 3 in. 

Sight Size: 16 x 10 in. 

Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as “gilt.” Where metal is gilded, the metal below was traditionally silver in the West, to make silver-gilt (or vermeil) objects, but gilt-bronze was commonly used in China, eventually known as ormolu in the West. Methods of gilding include hand application and gluing (typically of gold leaf), chemical gilding, and electroplating (also called gold plating). Parcel-gilt (partial gilt) objects are only gilded over part of their surfaces. This may mean that all of the inside, and none of the outside, of a chalice or similar vessel is gilded, or that patterns or images are made up by using a combination of gilt and ungilded areas. Gilding gives an object a gold appearance at a fraction of the cost of creating a solid gold object, and has been used since antiquity; Herodotus mentioned that the Egyptians gilded wood and metals in the 5th Century BC. A gilt surface also does not tarnish as silver does, meaning many pieces utilizing gilt metal still appear in remarkable shape despite their advanced age. Modern techniques still form an important part of framemaking and are sometimes employed in woodworking, decorative painting and interior decoration, bookbinding, and ornamental leather work, as well as in the decoration of pottery, porcelain, and art glass.

Commensurate with age.