Gilded glass is glass decorated with gold, applied as leaf, powder or liquid gold to the surface and usually fixed by firing. It includes drinking glasses and decanters with gilded rims and borders, richly decorated Venetian and Bohemian glass, reverse-gilded panels and the double-walled gold glass of Central Europe.
The technique has ancient origins and was practised in Roman and Islamic glassmaking before being taken up in Renaissance Venice, where enamelled and gilded wares were made for wealthy patrons. Bohemian glassworks of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries produced gilded beakers, goblets and coloured glass with elaborate gold decoration, while the Zwischengoldglas technique sealed engraved gold leaf between two layers of glass. In England, gilded decoration appears on Georgian drinking glasses and decanters, and on the coloured glass associated with Bristol. Verre églomisé, in which gold leaf is applied to the back of glass and engraved, was used for mirror borders, panels and pictures. Unfired or cold gilding wears away easily, and even fired gilding is often rubbed on rims and handles. Collectors look for decoration that is crisp and well preserved and should be cautious of later gilding added to plain antique glass.
