Black Picture Frame with a Gilded Inner Border, 95 mm

A black picture frame made to measure for painting on canvas, with the gold held to one narrow line. The face is 95 mm across and nearly all of it is black: hand-painted, hand-patinated, satin sheen. The gilding sits on a raised inner border at the edge of the work, water-gilded in 22-karat moon gold leaf over red bole. A painting set in it gets a dark surround and one bright line where the picture starts.

The moulding profile

At the painting the section opens with a flat step rising outward into a shallow cavetto. Together they stand as a raised inner border, lower where it meets the work than at its own outer edge, and they carry all of the gilding. Past the border the face opens into a broad flat frieze, the quietest part of the section and black from there outwards. Beyond it the profile climbs through two hollows, the lower of them the deeper, flattens, and runs out in an ogee to a flat crown. The outer side is closed at the back plane by a foot.

Specification

• Style: classical stepped section, raised inner border
• Finish: black, hand-painted and hand-patinated, satin sheen, shellac and wax
• Gilding: 22-karat moon gold leaf, water-gilded over red bole, on the inner border
• Gold tones available: 22-karat moon, 23-karat yellow, 12-karat white, 6-karat white
• Bole colours available: red, black, grey, yellow, green, blue
• Moulding width: 95 mm
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 45 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, 10 mm or 20 mm deep, chosen in the order menu
• Material: timber with a low tannin content, 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 on canvas: oils and acrylics on a stretcher up to 20 mm thick, and works laid down on a rigid support of the same thickness. The broad black frieze puts a zone of quiet between the picture and the wall, so it takes strong colour, landscape and portrait work that already carries weight, while the gilded border closes the composition instead of competing with it. On a dark wall the black sinks into the room and leaves only the gilding reading; on a pale wall it works as an outline. On matching a moulding width to a canvas, see my guide to types of picture frames for canvas paintings. It belongs to my range of picture frames gold gilded and partially painted.

How it is made and finished

The corners are cut at 45 degrees and reinforced with wooden splines before any ground goes on, so the geometry is fixed before the first coat and the finish runs across the joints. Nothing can be adjusted afterwards without breaking the surface.

The section is grounded in coats of gesso and rubbed down, and bole is laid on the band that will take the metal. The gilding is done by the traditional water-gilding method: leaf beside leaf with an overlap of about a millimetre, a single layer of metal over a many-layered ground. Leaves measure roughly 80 by 80 mm and are cut to width by hand on a gilder's cushion for a border this narrow, then burnished with an agate stone to a mirror-bright reflection. The black goes on in several hand-applied coats and is patinated along the edges and raised parts, so the bole answers where it would have worn through with handling. Everything is sealed with shellac and wax.

Choosing the gold tone and the bole colour

22-karat moon gold is the standard here: paler and cooler than classic yellow leaf, with a faintly silvery cast. There is also 23-karat yellow for the strongest warm reflection, 12-karat white gold with a cool pearl light, and 6-karat white, which reads almost as silver. The bole runs in six colours, and because it shows through the patination it shifts the tone of the metal, so I choose it with the leaf. The same arrangement runs on a wider 110 mm section as the wide black frame with a gilded inner border.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

On a factory frame the black is sprayed onto a finished length of moulding and the gold is usually a foil or a metallic paint run down the face by machine. Here every stage happens by hand and for one format: ground, bole, leaf, patination, finish. It shows in the light, because leaf burnished with agate reflects differently from any sprayed coating, and in the patination, laid on this one frame rather than repeated every metre.

What the frame will hold

The frame is supplied without glazing and without a backing, as a mount for a stretched canvas. What it encloses is set by the rebate depth, not by the 45 mm the section stands off the wall: 10 mm suits a thin support, 20 mm takes a standard stretcher, and the work seats in from the back. Measure the stretcher rather than estimating it.

The same section can be made without a rebate at all, as a floating frame, where the canvas hangs inside it with a visible gap around the edges of the stretcher. For contemporary painting that changes the presentation entirely, and I describe the construction in my guide to the floating picture frame.

Frequently asked questions

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

Only the raised inner border at the edge of the work. That line is genuine gold leaf on a bole ground; the frieze, the outer profile and the sides are painted black by hand. For the entire section in gold leaf, that is a different frame and I will price it separately.

Which gold tone should I choose for an oil painting?

For a warm palette, earth colours and deep reds, 23-karat yellow settles into the painting. For cooler or monochrome work the standard 22-karat moon gold holds the line without warming it, and the white golds take it towards silver.

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

Yes. The calculator prices the frame on its own, 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 a frame consumes: mitres cut at 45 degrees take extra length at every corner, and the wider the moulding, the more they take, which at 95 mm is considerable. 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.

Please note: The painting is not for sale; only the frame is available for purchase.