The art of illumination, which literally means to gild, to decorate with gold, is one of the Turkish decorative arts. Illumination, which was used especially to decorate the Quran in many periods of Turkish history, is the general name given to the art of book decoration and ornamentation. Illumination art was also frequently used to decorate the surroundings of the sultan’s signatures. In the ornamentation of works such as books and plates with Illumination art, 18 and 22 carat crushed gold and various colors were generally used. As can be understood from the meaning of its name, gold leaf or leaf gold is used in illumination art. It is possible to find leaf gold in various forms, at this point, the question of what is the price of leaf gold immediately comes to people’s minds. In this article, we will give you information about the art of illumination and the leaf gold used in this art, and we will also touch on brands such as Rupprecht yaprak altın.
What is Gold Leaf?
Before moving on to the definition of gold leaf, it is necessary to look at the meaning of the word leaf. Leaf is obtained by thinning the mines that have undergone various processes and turning them into sheets. This metal can be used in decorative arts such as illumination in the form of leaves or plates.
Gold leaf is obtained by hammering the gold strip between thin vellum and the membrane obtained from the cow’s blind intestine into transparent leaves. Gold leaf is also used in many different areas such as furniture and wall coverings. However, the subject of this article is the use of gold leaf in Turkish decorative arts such as illumination.
How is Gold Leaf Produced?
As the name suggests, gold leaf is produced from real gold. For the production of a classic gold leaf, a double or single-roll mill, two hammers of 4 and 1 kg, a rabbit’s foot, a narrow clay pan (dagar) and vellum (leather and membranes) are required.
The leaf planned to be produced is passed through the mill and turned into a plate between 1 – 0.1 mm according to the area of use. The plates that reach this thinness are broken into pieces and placed under the vellum in the dimensions of 12.5 * 6.5 cm. Then, the metal that goes through some processes is hammered with the help of a hammer. The leaves that have become quite thin, gold leaves are placed between thin papers and shaped into a notebook. Each of these notebooks usually consists of 25 leaves. The reason why the gold leaves are placed inside the notebook is that they are very light and can be dispersed by any shock or breeze. Recently, notebooks are also produced using the gold-adhered-to-paper technique for convenience.
Crushed Gold
The crushing process begins with dropping Arabic gum into the middle of a large container. A gold leaf is taken from the notebook with the right hand thumb that touches the gum and placed inside the container. It is crushed with the help of the tips of the index and middle fingers. After all the gold leaves in the notebook are taken, the crushing process is continued by adding pure water for at least 1-2 more hours. In order to understand whether the gold is crushed enough, 1-2 drops of water are added to check its fluidity. If there are small gold particles in the drops of water, the crushing process is continued for a while. After the crushing process, the gold is washed with pure water in the container. After approximately 10-12 hours, a second wash is done and it is put back to standby. The water container is quickly turned upside down and the gold that has sunk to the bottom is dried and made ready for use. The crushing process turns the gold leaf into pure gold paint, which is called crushed gold. This crushed gold, which is applied to the ground with the help of illumination brushes, has an extremely vivid and bright appearance on the ground. The dried gold is stamped with the help of a stamp, increasing the brightness of the paint and ensuring that it adheres better to the paper.
