What is French Ormolu?
“True” ormolu is a technique that involves mercury- or fire-gilding.

First, gilders used a mixture of mercuric nitrate to cover copper, brass, or bronze objects.

Then, they applied a finely powdered mixture of high-carat gold and mercury to a bronze item.

Next, the craftsman fired the object in a kiln, where extremely high temperatures vaporize the mercury, leaving only the gold finish.

The results of this process produce highly luxurious, opulent, ornamental mountings for the world’s most well-crafted

furniture and decorative objects

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– Gilding using mercury
The metal object is covered with an amalgam, a mixture of mercury and molten gold, and then heated to evaporate the mercury until it has completely disappeared. After being cooled, the deposited gold is burnished to obtain shiny surface. The burnishing highlights the forms and details that the monochrome gold tone unified.

Unfortunately, this technique is excessively dangerous for man and nowadays only business owners are authorised to apply it, at their own risk. It should be remembered that in the era of the Sun King, when Versailles glittered under all of its gold, dozens of gilders suffering from fevers and mercury poisoning were everyday covered up to the chest in order to gild bronze furniture using mercury. They died swiftly under atrocious pain, sacrificing themselves for a fabulous wage