The gilding craft is a truly brilliant example for today's use of working techniques that have their origin in ancient Egypt. The mummy-shaped sarcophagus of Tutankhamun from the grave near the old Egyptian capital of Thebes seems made of pure gold.

However, its core is all wood. Only its surface is gold-plated.

The paper-thin gold leaf adheres to a coating whose basic substance is alumina. Underneath are layers of chalk encasing the hollow wooden corpus.

The complex procedure called "Poliment Gilding" is still used today - of course with some further developments - for the manufacture of high-quality picture frames and in the restoration of antiques.

Das Kunsthandwerk der Vergoldung ist ein wahrhaft glänzendes Beispiel für die heutige Verwendung von Arbeitstechniken, die schon im alten Ägypten ihren Ursprung hatten. Der mumienförmige Sarkophag des Tutenchamun aus dem Grab bei der altägyptischen Hauptstadt Theben wirkt, als sei er aus purem Gold gemacht. Der Kern besteht jedoch lediglich aus Holz. Nur seine Oberfläche ist vergoldet.

Das hauchdünne Blattgold haftet auf einer Grundierung, deren Grundsubstanz Tonerde ist. Darunter liegen Kreideschichten, die den hohlen Holzkorpus ummanteln. Noch heute wird das komplexe Verfahren - natürlich mit einigen Weiterentwicklungen - unter der Bezeichnung Poliment-Vergoldung bei der Herstellung hochwertiger Bilderrahmen und der Restaurierung antiker Stücke eingesetzt.

Selhamin Poliment clay is a specially prepared and refined bole for the priming of gilded surfaces. The ideal raw materials and ingredients must be optimally matched, combined in the right proportions and processed in accordance with traditional procedures.
 

As a company rich in tradition, Selhamin has developed - with its Selhamin Poliment clay range of products - a material which shows its special abilities in the processing of beaten metals such as gold, white gold, silver and platinum.

Especially appreciated are its characteristics in the processing of silver leaf and white gold on frame surfaces for modern, contemporary as well as classical art. The richness in colour nuances that can be obtained in this way is again and again a joy for experts and artists.
 

Whether modern or classical, each work of art needs an individually matched frame to fully unfold its expression.
To give you maximum freedom in the choice of the appropriate colour nuance, Selhamin Poliments are available in master quality and in many different colours.

The range includes, for example, Calabrian black, Piedmont red, Ligurian yellow and Amalfi blue. Depending on your personal processing preferences, these Poliments are available in solid form as cones or in paste form packed in jars.