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Gold leaf isgold that has beenhammered into thin sheets bygoldbeating. It is often used forgilding. The most commonly used gold is 22-karat yellow gold. Layering gold leaf over asurface is calledgold leafing or gilding.
Gold leaf is sometimes used in art without a gilding process. In manycultures, it was used to wrap objects such asamulets. It has been used injewellery.
Gold leaf has traditionally been used as a gildingmaterial to decorate art or thepictureframes. Gold leaf paintings were used in mosaics in later Early Christian art. Gold leaf is also used inBuddhist art to decoratestatues andsymbols. Gold leafing can also be seen ondomes in religious and publicarchitecture.
Gold leaf has long been used in architecture. It was used inByzantine andRomanchurches andbasilicas in 400 AD.
Gold leaf is sometimes used to decoratefood ordrink. It is sometimes found indesserts andconfectionery. When used as afood additive, gold has the E-number E175.[1]
Gold leaf is commonlycounterfeited. Counterfeit gold leaf is typically made of a copper alloy similar tobrass. This material is slightly toxic and can cause copper or zinc poisoning if used for culinary use.
