Burnish Gilding
1 media/burnishing_thumb.jpg 2021-12-13T19:46:40-08:00 Brooke Hendershott b0a907cd0f989ee79e94592378a1545647719cfb 39447 1 A frame being gilded by burnishing, where the metal leaf is rubbed onto the surface with a hard tool. Via Wikimedia Commons plain 2021-12-13T19:46:40-08:00 Brooke Hendershott b0a907cd0f989ee79e94592378a1545647719cfbThis page is referenced by:
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2021-11-03T13:50:38-07:00
How was this made?
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2023-01-13T06:55:18-08:00
By Brooke Hendershott '23
This statue is made primarily of copper gilt. The core of the priest, base, and relic tube would have been cast as separate pieces from copper. A model of the final piece would have been made out of clay or wax, and then cast by being submerged in layers of plaster. Then the plaster would be broken open and the clay or wax would be removed to leave a two part mold. This mold was then secured and filled with molten copper and left to cool. When the plaster mold is removed, this process yields a solid copper piece. These pieces would then be soldered or fitted together to create the whole sculpture.
After the assembly, the statue would be gilded. Gilding is the process of giving a piece of art a thin layer of gold or gold colored surfacing. There are three ways to accomplish this with copper. One way would be to use a gold paint. The pure metal could be shaved into very small pieces and then ground into an oil binder to produce a metallic paint that would be brushed onto the surface of the statue to make a coating. Another option is gold leafing: where very thin sheets of copper would be applied to the statue surface with a glue to hold it on. The last, most common with metal, and longest lasting option is to put the statue into an oven until it is almost red hot, then burnish, or polish by rubbing, gold or copper leaf onto the surface of the very hot statue.
Finally, there was originally brightly colored enameling on the relic tube. This is champlevé enamel: a technique that was developed in France in the 12th century. This enameling technique is done by making wells or grooves in the metal through carving, hammering, or casting and then filling those areas with an enamel powder. This powder-filled piece is then fired in an oven where the enamel will liquify and fuse to the metal. Once done, the tube caps would have been polished, fitted to the glass tube containing the relic, and then secured to the gilded statue to complete the reliquary.
This method is in contrast to other metal works in the show such as the So-called Crusader's Bowl
