GOLD Overlay Technique: Some decorated porcelain items in the Nippon era have a large area of heavy gold that is raised above the body of the ware. To the area where the artist wanted to create the design a very heavy foundation of slip or moriage was applied. The vessel was fired to set the clay. Gold was applied to this heavily raised area which gave it a lavish appearance. This raised gold treatment is heavier and thicker than much of the more delicate “raised” gold (kin-mori) of the Nippon era. Building up moriage or slip required less steps which was time saving. The height and contour of the relief was more easily controlled using moriage. As well, once the area was built up with moriage, it was easy to apply the gold.

There were times when raised gold was built up by layering gold on gold or applying it more heavily, but the look Nippon collectors refer to as Gold Overlay utilized the method of building up the foundation with slip and then covering it with gold.

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