Wide black and gold picture frame, 22-karat moon gold leaf

This is a black picture frame with gold trim of a particular kind. The gold trim starts at the very edge of the painting and stops there; everything beyond it is painted black. The frame therefore reads as a wide dark border with one bright line of gold held tight against the work. The moulding is 67 mm wide and 36 mm thick, enough presence for a substantial oil painting and no ornament anywhere on it. I make each frame to the measurements of the artwork and gild it with genuine gold leaf over a red bole ground.

Profile

The section opens at the very edge of the painting with the gold trim: a shallow hollow runs along the edge of the work and lifts, with no break in the curve, into a rounded crest. That one continuous form carries all of the gold on this frame. Behind the crest the surface drops through a small step into a flat face that occupies the middle of the width. From there it lifts outwards again in a quarter-circle cavetto and closes at a quarter-round along the outer edge. The side of the frame is not vertical: it is undercut with a concave curve, which takes weight out of the frame when you see it from an angle.

Specification

• Style: classical, architectural, no ornament
• Finish: black, hand painted, satin sheen
• Gilding: 22-karat moon gold leaf over red bole, water gilded and burnished with an agate stone, on the gold trim at the inner edge only
• Moulding width: 67 mm
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 36 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, 13 mm or 20 mm deep, chosen when you order
• Material: timber of a low-tannin species, of the kind used in museum work and art conservation
• Corners: mitred and reinforced with wooden splines
• Glazing, backing and mat board: not included, available as an add-on and quoted separately
• Mounting and hanging: sprung clips and cord as standard, portrait or landscape
• Suited to: oil and acrylic paintings on canvas or panel, works on board, drawings and photographs behind glazing
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

I cut the frame 2 to 3 mm larger than the artwork, so that the work drops in without being forced, and the moulding then covers 4 to 5 mm of the edge all round. Send me the height and width of the painting and I work from those figures.

Which artworks and interiors it suits

The proportions suit oil and acrylic painting more than anything else: a wide black border holds a strong palette without competing with it, and the gold trim does at the inner edge what a gilded slip would do, separating the paint surface from the black. It works particularly well with dark and tonal paintings, with portraits and still life, and with older varnished work where the warm cast of the red bole under the gold picks up the colour of the paint. On a light wall the frame draws the painting together; on a dark wall it recedes and leaves the gold doing the work. I write more about proportion, depth and glazing for this kind of work on my page about framing oil paintings, and you will find the rest of this group in picture frames gold gilded and partially painted.

How it is made

The lengths are mitred and joined with wooden splines before any finishing goes on, so the corner is a joined and closed corner rather than a butted one. The surfaces to be gilded are built up with a traditional ground and then a red bole, which is the coloured clay layer that gives water gilding its depth and allows the gold to be burnished. The leaf is laid on water, one leaf against the next with an overlap of about a millimetre, then burnished with an agate stone until it takes on a hard shine. Where I take the surface back slightly, the red bole shows through the gold along the crest of the trim, which is what gives a water-gilded surface its warmth. The black is painted by hand, and the whole frame is sealed with shellac and wax. My page on water gilding sets out the method in full.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

A factory frame of this look is printed foil or sprayed paint on a length of moulding cut and stapled to size. Here the gold is genuine leaf laid over bole, so it can be burnished, it can be taken back by hand, and it ages rather than peels. The patination is done on each frame individually, which means the wear along the crest never falls in exactly the same places twice. I keep no stock of finished sizes: every frame is cut, joined, gilded and painted for one artwork.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glazing, prepared for a painting held directly in the rebate. The rebate depth is chosen when you order: 20 mm, about ¾ inch, takes a standard stretched canvas; 13 mm, about ½ inch, suits work on panel, board or a thinner support. If your stretcher is deeper than 20 mm, tell me the thickness and I will make the rebate to fit.

The same section can also be made without a rebate, as a floating frame, with the painting standing free inside the moulding and a shadow gap around it.

Common questions

Is the whole frame gilded, or only part of it?

Only part of it. This is a painted frame with gilded accents: the trim at the inner edge, hollow and crest together, is gilded in 22-karat moon gold leaf, and the rest of the moulding is painted black. If you would prefer the whole face in gold leaf, I make frames that way as well and can quote this section gilded across its full width.

Which gold tone should I choose for an oil painting?

The frame is shown in 22-karat moon gold, an alloy of gold and silver that reads cooler and paler than yellow gold and sits well against black and against cool or muted palettes. For warm earth palettes, and for older varnished paintings, 23-karat yellow gold gives a stronger and warmer trim. 12-karat white gold is cooler again, close to silver. The bole beneath the leaf shifts the tone as well: the red bole used here warms the gold wherever the surface is worn through.

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

Yes. The frame is supplied without glazing as standard, and glazing, an acid-free mat and a Dibond backing can all be added. For a work on paper I would normally allow a mat border of about 1½ to 2¼ inches, 40 to 57 mm, and set the rebate depth to suit the whole package rather than the artwork alone.

Can a frame like this be made to a tighter budget?

Yes, and the saving comes from the section rather than from the gold. A narrower moulding with a shorter gilded element uses less leaf and less hand work, and keeps genuine gold leaf on the frame. Send me the size of the painting and roughly what you want to spend, and I will suggest a profile that fits both.

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

I hold the painting in the frame with sprung clips that turn aside when you change the work, which makes the frame easy to handle. On request I fit permanent, screwed brass plates instead. For hanging, I attach cord as standard, in portrait or landscape orientation; a single D-ring on request.

Ordering made to measure

The base price shown on the site is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the full length the frame needs: corners cut at 45 degrees take extra length, and the wider the moulding the greater that difference. The calculator accounts for the full moulding consumption with corners and for any options you choose.

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. Glazing, backing and mat board are priced separately, outside the calculator. Each frame is made in 20 to 30 working days.