Editing Gilding (section)

== History ==
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2021}}
[[File:Belt Buckle with Zoomorphic Design, North China, 3rd-2nd century BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Belt Buckle with [[Ordos culture|nomadic]]-inspired [[animal style|zoomorphic design]], manufactured in China for the [[Xiongnu]]. [[Mercury (element)|Mercury]]-gilded [[bronze]] (a Chinese technique invented by the [[Daoism|Daoists]] in the 4th century CE). North China, 3rd–2nd century BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bunker |first1=Emma C. |title=Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections |date=2002 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |page=100, item 67 |url=https://archive.org/details/NomadicArtoftheEasternEurasianSteppesTheEugeneVThawandOtherNotableNewYorkCollection/page/n113/mode/2up |language=English}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite book |last1=Bunker |first1=Emma C. |title=Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections |date=2002 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |page=29 |url=https://archive.org/details/NomadicArtoftheEasternEurasianSteppesTheEugeneVThawandOtherNotableNewYorkCollection/page/n43/mode/2up |language=English}}</ref>]]

[[Herodotus]] mentions that the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]]s gilded wood and metals, and many such objects have been excavated. Certain Ancient Greek statues of great prestige were [[Chryselephantine sculpture|chryselephantine]], i.e., made of gold (for the clothing) and [[ivory]] (for the flesh); these however, were constructed with sheets of gold over a timber framework, not gilded. Extensive ornamental gilding was also used in the ceiling coffers of the [[Propylaea]].

[[Pliny the Elder]] recorded that the first gilding seen at [[Rome]] was after the destruction of [[Carthage]], under the censorship of [[Lucius Mummius]], when the Romans began to gild the ceilings of their temples and palaces, the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitol]] being the first place where this process was used. Gilding became a popular luxury within Rome soon after the introduction of the technique, with gilding soon being seen used on the walls, vaults and inside the houses of anyone who could afford it, including the poor. Owing to the comparative thickness of the gold leaf used in ancient gilding, the traces of it that remain are remarkably brilliant and solid.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=13}} Fire-gilding of metal goes back at least to the 4th century BC. [[Mercury (element)|Mercury]]-gilding was invented by Chinese [[Daoism|Daoists]] in the 4th century CE and was used for the gilding of [[bronze]] plaques.<ref name="auto"/> It was known to Pliny (33,20,64–5), [[Vitruvius]] (8,8,4) and in the early medieval period to Theophilus (De Diversis Artibus Book III).{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://resources.warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/cnh925b2209242.pdf|title=The book of the art of Cennino Cennini&nbsp;— the Warburg Institute}}</ref>

In Europe, silver-gilt has always been more common than gilt-bronze, but in China the opposite has been the case.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} The ancient Chinese also developed the gilding of [[porcelain]], which was later taken up by the French and other European potters.