Andy Warhol's work as a commercial illustrator ran the gamut - from illustrations of shoes for Glamour Magazine to Christmas cards for Tiffany & Co. The latter was perfectly suited for Warhol, whose love for Christmas has become more and more understood in the last several years. Tiffany's published Warhol's Christmas cards from 1956 to 1962.

In 1957, Warhol created an illustration of an ornate gold Christmas tree to be featured in the December issue of Harper's Bazaar. That Christmas tree also served as an announcement of Warhol's exhibit at the Bodley Gallery in New York City, A Show of Golden Pictures, which took place from December 2-24, 1957.

Warhol first introduced gold "leaf" into his works after his first trip abroad in 1956. According to Charles Lisanby who went with Warhol on this trip, "the working of gold lacquer surfaces with black ornaments in Thailand inspired Warhol to choose this color combination for [gold works]" - this technique appeared in A Gold Book, which Warhol published in 1957. (Nina Schleif, Reading Andy Warhol at page 112).

In that same essay, Schleif notes that "of all of the promotional books, A Gold Book is certainly the one that makes the impression of being the most serious. It is also the only promotional book that Warhol took credit for alone. Yet journalistic attention again remained denied to him."