Distressed picture frame white gold

This frame is made to order, designed for the professional framing of oil and acrylic paintings on stretched canvas. It is built from solid timber with a low tannin content — the species used in museum-grade framing and conservation work — finished by hand with real sterling silver leaf, then carefully aged. The deep, robust profile securely accommodates even thicker stretchers, and the muted silver tonality lets light enter the painting without competing with it through harsh reflection. It is a frame for collectors who treat the mounting as an integral part of the work.

Suited works and interiors

The frame is built primarily for oil and acrylic on stretched canvas. Its 30 mm rabbet depth comfortably accommodates the deeper stretchers used in contemporary practice. The cool but quietened silver tone reads especially well with abstract painting, modern figurative work, and pieces with restrained, near-monochromatic palettes. Within interiors, it sits naturally in minimalist, Nordic and industrial spaces, and in gallery architecture — and equally as a deliberate counterpoint in classical urban interiors, where gold would be the obvious, and therefore the wrong, answer.

Specifications

• Style: classical profile with a contemporary, quietened finish; hand-applied silver leaf with controlled patina
• Finish: pure sterling silver leaf, hand-aged, sealed with traditional shellac and wax
• Frame face width: 80 mm
• Frame depth: 48 mm
• Rabbet (sight opening lip): 7 mm wide × 30 mm deep
• Frame material: solid timber, low tannin content — the species used in museum-grade framing and conservation work
• Corner joinery: traditional wood splines, assembled before finishing
• Hanging: rear hangers for vertical or horizontal orientation
• Suited works: oil and acrylic on stretched canvas, abstract and contemporary painting

Frame dimensions refer to the outer measurement of the complete moulding. The frame overlaps the artwork by a 7 mm rabbet lip, and the inner sight opening is built with a 2–3 mm technical clearance — meaning the actual visible overlap onto the painting is approximately 4–5 mm. Each frame is built individually to the precise dimensions of your work.

The making of the frame

Each length of moulding is cut to size in the workshop, and the corners are joined with traditional wood splines before any finishing takes place. Only when the frame is fully assembled — and the joinery has settled into a stable, finished form — does it pass to the gilder. Classical grounds are then laid down (animal-glue size, gesso, bolus), and the silver leaf is patiently applied, leaf by leaf, side by side. The work demands a steady breath and an undisturbed bench: a sheet of pure silver leaf is only a few thousandths of a millimetre thick, and reacts to every shift of air in the room.

After leafing, the surface is taken through a controlled patination — selectively darkened in some passages, lifted lighter in others, and rubbed back at the edges to reveal the layers beneath. The result is a range of tones moving from cool, fresh silver through to deeper, almost graphite passages. Light no longer bounces off the surface. It travels across it.

The whole frame is then sealed with traditional shellac and wax. The method does two things at once: it stabilises the silver (pure silver leaf naturally tarnishes in contact with air; the shellac arrests this oxidation), and it deepens the colour, replacing what would otherwise be a sharp metallic reflection with a soft, satin sheen.

Why this is not a mass-produced frame

In factory production, mouldings are finished as straight lengths, before assembly. Once joined, the corners are touched up with paint, filler or a stick-on overlay imitating the surface. Here the order is reversed: the frame is built first, as a complete and stable structure, and only then is it gilded. This means the corners are finished as part of the whole surface — sealed with shellac, retouched by brush, and softly rounded at the edges rather than sharply cut off. It takes considerably more skill and considerably more time, but it produces a result that does not unravel later: the patina at the corner is as alive as the patina at the centre of the moulding.

Practical considerations

As standard, the frame ships with rear hangers for vertical or horizontal orientation. The 30 mm rabbet depth accommodates the deeper stretcher bars commonly used in contemporary painting.

The base price shown on the listing is per running metre of moulding. The total length of moulding required is greater than the perimeter of the painting alone — mitred 45° corners take additional length, more so as the moulding gets wider. The calculator accounts for full moulding usage including corner waste, together with any selected add-ons: glass, backing, hanging hardware.

Complete framing — additional options

Every frame can be completed with a full archival mounting prepared in the workshop: glass, archival backing and matting. All components are available as a custom add-on — quote on request.

Glass — four classes available

Opti White, 4mm — low-iron glass with a neutral, colourless appearance (no green tint typical of standard float glass). Available up to 90×90 cm — the only option for larger works.

Ultra Vue UV70 (Tru Vue), 2.0mm — anti-reflective glass with 70% UV protection, low-iron. Available up to 60×80 cm.

Art View — premium-class anti-reflective glass: reflection reduced below 1%, up to 75% UV protection, scratch-resistant coating, low-iron, can be cut and mounted from either side. Meets ISO 18916 (Photographic Activity Test) — safe for archival photography. Premium quality at an accessible price. Available up to 60×80 cm.

Optium Museum Acrylic (Tru Vue) — top-tier museum acrylic: over 99% UV protection, museum-grade reflection reduction, anti-static, lightweight, shatter-resistant. The museum standard for conservation work and archival photography. Available up to 60×80 cm.

Archival backing

Dibond 3mm aluminium composite panel — two layers of aluminium with an acid-free polymer core. Rigid, chemically neutral, dimensionally stable. An industry standard in archival photographic framing and art conservation.

Mounting and matting

Acid-free foam board — chemically neutral, will not yellow over time, will not react with paper or photographic emulsions. Archival standard.

Full museum framing

Combining anti-reflective UV-filtering glass, acid-free matting, Dibond backing and conservation hinging tapes provides a museum-grade mounting — protecting the work from light damage, acid migration from typical framing materials, and mechanical distortion. This type of framing is used in museums, galleries and private collections.

To order: all of the above components are available as a frame add-on on request. Please get in touch with the dimensions of your work and your preferred glass class — I will prepare an individual quote.

Ordering a custom frame

To order, please measure the width and height of your painting precisely and enter the dimensions in the calculator to within 1 mm (e.g. 35.0 × 30.2 cm). The frame is built with a ~3 mm technical clearance to allow safe seating of the canvas.

The same profile is available in other finishes — including 23-karat yellow gold leaf (intense classical glow), 22-karat moon gold (cooler, paler, subtly silvered), 12-karat and 6-karat white gold, palladium, and painted versions in a curated, richly pigmented paint range, with a choice of bolus colours beneath (red, grey, green, black, blue, plum, Victorian grey). For commissions and specific requests, please get in touch.