Gold in Luxury, Art & Culture

05.10.2026

Topic guide · Updated October 2026

No other material says "luxury" as clearly as gold. For thousands of years it has been used for jewellery, sacred art, royal tableware and works of art — and today designers apply it to everything from cars and phones to desserts. This guide looks at the role of gold in art, design and culture and brings together all our articles on the topic.

Jewellery: the oldest use of gold

Jewellery is still the largest single use of gold. Because pure 24-carat gold is very soft, most jewellery is made from alloys: 18-carat gold contains 75% gold, 14-carat about 58%. Adding other metals also changes the colour — copper gives rose gold, while palladium or nickel give white gold. India and China are the largest markets for gold jewellery, where it is closely linked to weddings, festivals and family savings.

Sacred art and architecture

Gold has long been used to express the divine. Byzantine mosaics, Orthodox icons and medieval altarpieces use gold backgrounds to represent heavenly light. Temples and churches around the world — from Wat Xieng Thong in Laos to the gilded Madonnina on top of Milan Cathedral — are decorated with gold leaf, which can cover large surfaces with very little metal.

Gold leaf and gilding

Gold leaf is gold beaten into sheets far thinner than a human hair. Gilders use it on statues, domes, picture frames, furniture and book covers. The Japanese city of Kanazawa produces almost all of Japan's gold leaf, and edible gold leaf is used to decorate desserts and drinks.

Masterpieces of the jeweller's art

Some of the most famous objects ever made in gold are works of jewellery and decorative art: the imperial Easter eggs created by the House of Fabergé for the Russian tsars, Renaissance cups and salt cellars, and modern pieces such as gold sculptures by contemporary artists.

Modern luxury

Today gold appears on luxury watches, fountain pens, phones, bicycles and cars. Many of these items are gold-plated rather than solid gold, but they still carry gold's message of exclusivity. Record-breaking examples include a jewelled gold Rubik's Cube and gold-covered bicycles with prices higher than a sports car.

Gold in popular culture

Gold is everywhere in culture: gold medals at the Olympic Games, gold records in music, the Oscar statuette with its gold finish, and golden treasures in films, games and anime. It remains the universal symbol of first place and of something precious.