Metal leaf Metal leaf A metal leaf, also called composition leaf or schlagmetal, is a thin foil used for decoration. Metal leaves can come in many different shades. Some metal leaves may look like gold leaf but does not contain any real gold. This type of metal leaf is often referred to as imitation leaf. Metal leaves are usually made of gold (including many alloys), silver, copper, aluminium, brass (sometimes called "Dutch metal" typically 85% Copper and 15% zinc) or palladium, sometimes also platinum. Vark is a type of silver leaf used for decoration in Indian cuisine. Goldbeating, the technique of producing
Brass all copper alloys used in the Roman world by the 4th century AD. Little is known about the production of brass during the centuries immediately after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Disruption in the trade of tin for bronze from Western Europe may have contributed to the increasing popularity of brass in the east and by the 6th–7th centuries AD over 90% of copper alloy artefacts from Egypt were made of brass. However other alloys such as low tin bronze were also used and they vary depending on local cultural attitudes, the purpose of the metal and access to