Gold

About

Gold never tarnishes, and it is so malleable that it can be beaten into leaf thinner than paper. It suited things meant to last and to shine. Egyptian goldsmiths made the funerary mask of Tutankhamun (about 1323 BC), Scythian and Greek craftsmen mastered fine granulation and filigree, and Muisca goldworkers in present-day Colombia cast votive pieces such as the raft associated with the El Dorado ceremony.

Gold leaf spread the effect over larger surfaces. It forms the glowing grounds of Byzantine mosaics and medieval altarpieces and covers Buddhist temples from Thailand to Japan, including the upper storeys of Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto. Gustav Klimt set gold leaf into paintings such as The Kiss (1907–08), and Yves Klein's Monogold works of the early 1960s made gold a subject in itself. Look for warm, unchanging colour, fine joins between sheets of leaf and any red ground showing through wear.