GOLD LEAF

a ti ue of that metal, beaten out to ¢s$e9 in. in thickne . It is beaten to such a finene for the purpose of gilding various surfaces. The art of gold-beating was known to the ancient Egyptians and was practiced by the potters and decorators of both Greece and Rome. A German monk of the 12th century outlines a proce of gold-beating almost identical with that of today, and in the days of their prosperity the skilful Florentines were famous for the art. The gold is sometimes alloyed with silver or copper, and is then cast into ingots. Powerful steel rollers flatten the ingots out to a ribbon 114 in. wide. After annealing, the ribbon is divided into pieces, each weighing about 6/4 grains. These pieces are interleaved in a ‘cutch,’ the interleaving being effected with small sheets of vellum or tough paper, about 4 in. sq. This ‘cutch’ or pile is set on a firm marble block and beaten with a seventeen-pound hammer, until the gold has spread to the size of the paper screens. Each gold sheet is cut into four, and again interleaved, this time in a ‘shoder,’ whose leaves are made of ‘gold-beater’s skin’ (q.v.). This ‘shoder’ or packet is beaten for two hours with a ten-pound hammer, Finally each G. L. is again divided into four and set between layers of very fine gold-beater’s skin, in what is technically called a mould. Here the gold is beaten for the last time, usually for four hours. A seven-pound hammer is used. Twenty five leaves, which are about 314 in. square, are sold together in a book; and the finene of the metal is such that a grain of G. L, will gild 56 sq. in. of sur-. face.