Wide Black Picture Frame with 23-Karat Gold Trim, 110 mm

A wide black picture frame with gold trim, made to measure for oil paintings and canvases on stretchers. At 110 mm across the face and standing 50 mm off the wall, it reads as part of the architecture of a room rather than as a border drawn round a picture. The gilding is confined to a hollow on the inner frame, right at the sight line, laid there in 23-karat gold leaf over red bole. That one warm line is what separates the black from the painting.

The moulding profile

At the painting the section opens with a separate inner frame. Its face begins with a cavetto running along the sight line, and this is the hollow that carries the gilding, followed by a narrow flat. From there the profile climbs through a second cavetto that levels off at the top, then drops onto the wide flat band of the face, the broadest and quietest part of the section. Beyond it the face rises again through a third cavetto, flattens once more, then runs out in an ogee to the highest point of the frame at the outer edge, closed by a short flat. The outer side drops vertically and is finished at the back plane by a foot repeating the shape of the ogee above.

Specification

• Style: architectural stepped section, classical proportions
• Finish: black, hand-painted, satin matt at the lowest level of sheen, sealed with shellac
• Gilding: 23-karat gold leaf, water-gilded over red bole, on the inner frame at the sight line
• Moulding width: 110 mm
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 50 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, 10 mm or 20 mm deep, chosen at the point of order
• Material: timber with a low tannin content, of the kind used in museum conservation
• Corner construction: mitred corners reinforced with wooden splines, jointed before grounding
• Artwork retention: sprung clips as standard, brass plates with screws on request
• Hanging: picture wire as standard, orientation from the order menu, single D-ring on request
• Glazing, backing and mount: available as add-ons, quote on request
• Lead time: 20–30 working days

The frame is made to the exact dimensions of your artwork, so enter the dimensions of the work itself in the calculator. I build in 2–3 mm of technical clearance, and the moulding overlaps the edge of the artwork by roughly 4–5 mm.

Which paintings and interiors it suits

A frame for painting rather than for paper: oils, acrylics and stretched canvases that already have weight and need a boundary. A 110 mm face needs a picture that can carry it, so it comes into its own from roughly 50 cm on the shorter side upwards. Saturated palettes, dark grounds and warm earth colours take the 23-karat line particularly well. More on matching a section to the work is on my page about framing oil paintings. It belongs to my range of picture frames gold gilded and partially painted.

How it is made and finished

The corners are mitred and reinforced with wooden splines before any grounding goes on, so the joints close under the finish rather than over it. The body is then built up in hand-applied coats of black, brought to a satin matt at the lowest level of sheen I work in, and sealed with shellac and wax. The surface holds almost no reflection, which is what lets the gilded line register against it.

The gilded line is water-gilded. Leaves of 23-karat gold measure roughly 80 by 80 mm, far wider than the hollow they cover, so each leaf is cut to width with a gilder's knife on a leather cushion before it is laid. It goes down onto a red bole ground, one leaf beside the next with an overlap of about a millimetre, then burnished with an agate stone and sealed. The red beneath is what gives 23-karat gold its depth; over a grey bole the same leaf reads noticeably cooler. I describe the process in my article on gilded picture frames and hand gilding.

The same section exists in a second gold tone: the version gilded in 22-karat moon gold is paler, cooler and more heavily patinated, with the brick red of the bole showing through.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

Gold on a factory frame is usually an effect rather than a metal: pigment sprayed to look like gold, or a metallic foil pressed onto a wrap over a fibreboard core. Both shift colour as they age. Here the line at the sight edge is metal, laid as leaf on a bole ground and burnished, by the method used in conservation work on historic frames. The section is timber the whole way through, with no fibreboard and no wrap.

What the frame will hold

The frame is supplied without glazing, as a mount for a canvas or a panel. The work goes in from the back and is held by sprung clips, so it can be taken out again without dismantling anything. What the frame encloses is set by the rebate depth, not by the 50 mm the section stands off the wall: 10 mm suits a thin support or a shallow stretcher, 20 mm takes a chunky one, and it is worth measuring the stretcher rather than estimating it.

The same section can be made without a rebate at all, as a floating frame, with a visible gap running round the canvas and the edges of the stretcher left in view. That construction is described in my guide to the floating picture frame.

Frequently asked questions

Is the whole frame gilded, or only the inner edge?

Only the inner frame at the sight line. The gold there is genuine 23-karat leaf on a bole ground; the rest of the section is painted black by hand. If you want the entire profile in gold leaf, that is a different frame and I will quote it separately.

Which gold tone suits an oil painting?

23-karat yellow gold is the warmest of the four leaf types I work with and holds its own against saturated oils and dark grounds. 22-karat moon gold is paler and cooler; 12-karat and 6-karat white gold read almost as silver.

What mount proportions suit a frame this wide?

For a work on paper behind glazing, a border of roughly 2 to 3 inches, 50 to 75 mm, holds up against a 110 mm face; anything narrower is swallowed by the width of the moulding. Send me the size of the sheet and I will set the proportions with you.

Can this frame take conservation-grade low-reflection UV glazing?

Yes. The calculator prices the frame alone, but I fit conservation-grade low-reflection UV glazing, acid-free mount board, spacers and a Dibond backing to order.

Complete framing – additional options

Every frame I make can be completed with full archival and museum-quality framing: anti-reflective UV-filtering glass (four classes to choose from), acid-free museum mat board, spacers wrapped in acid-free paper and a Dibond backing. This kind of mounting protects the work from light, acids and distortion. I set out the full glass and material specification on a separate page: archival and museum framing for paintings and photographs. All components are available at extra cost, as an individual quote on request.

Mounting and hanging

Sprung clips are fitted as standard. They turn aside to let the work in and back to hold it, and they cope with anything from a thin board to a stretched canvas. Brass plates with screws are available on request and are supplied loose, for permanent fixing once the work is in place. Hanging orientation, vertical or horizontal, is chosen from the order menu. Picture wire is fitted as standard, and a single D-ring hanger can be fitted instead if you ask for it.

Ordering made to measure

Measure the artwork to within a millimetre, enter both figures in the calculator and add the frame to the basket. In the product options you also choose the rebate depth and the hanging orientation.

The base price shown is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the artwork is not the whole length of moulding a frame consumes: mitres cut at 45 degrees take extra length at every corner, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator accounts for the full consumption of moulding including the corners, together with the options you select.

The calculator accepts artwork up to a perimeter of 180 cm, the limit set for a moulding of this width; larger formats I make to individual order, so please write to me first. Every frame leaves the workshop in 20–30 working days.