Literary notes about Gilt (AI summary)
The term "gilt" in literature often conveys an image of opulence and finely crafted ornamentation that enhances both tangible objects and the scenes they inhabit. It is used to describe items ranging from clothing and personal accessories—such as the bottle-green coat with gilt buttons ([1]) and silver-gilt boot-jack ([2])—to architectural elements and decorative furnishings, like gilt pagodas ([3]) and intricately embossed chimney-pieces ([4]). Moreover, its application to book bindings ([5], [6]) and other objects suggests both a celebration of luxurious detail and, at times, a subtle commentary on superficial adornment. The word thus transforms everyday objects into symbols of refined aesthetic and historical grandeur within literary works.
- Dressed in a bottle-green coat with gilt buttons, a model of grace and manhood, he was the attraction of the ladies' gallery.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Edwards pressed on me a silver-gilt boot-jack, and I might have had a dressing-case fitted up with a silver warming-pan, and a service of plate.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - "Found Fraser (of the Engineers) in a rambling phoongyee house, just under the great gilt pagoda.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - The old carved chimney-piece was of the age of James I., and the gilt bird over the portal was the work of Grinling Gibbons.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson - She was reading a tiny book, with gilt edges, like a religious book.
— from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - The gilt bindings of the seven handsome little volumes caught the old lady's eye.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
