Table Cigarette Case “Venus with Cupid” miniatures and citrine quartz Salimbeni.

Octagonal table cigarette case in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with external edges and fired enamels inserted in fine designs in the Baroq...

Rectangular table box with rounded corners in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with a beautiful hand-engraved and fire-enamelled frame and in the center a beautiful hand painted miniature by the painter Beatrice Mellana reproducing the painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres "Odalisque with slave". Dimensions cm. 9.5 x 12.3 x 3.3. Weight gr. 671. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni in 1979 and manufactured in Florence in numerous specimens with various subjects and different colors, in the headquarters of the Salimbeni Company with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding numerous enamelled firings at about 800° C. Miniature is a very ancient technique which consists of painting works in small proportions. It was born for the decoration of the first letter of the paragraph of the books. Over the years, however, this technique is refined and enriched, then moving on to precious personal items. hand painted miniatures can be done with multiple different techniques. The most important that we use on our articles are of three kinds: 1) Fire enamel. 2) Water tempera on an ivory plate. 3) Painted on mother-of-pearl. Fire enameled miniatures: On a first layer of enamel generally white or very clear or even transparent suitably liquefied at a temperature of about 750 ° C, the chosen subject is painted using miniature...

Square snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with perforated lid, embossed and engraved by hand, with fine round miniature diameter cm. 3.8 hand painted in tempera on veg...

Rectangular box with inward corners in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with beautiful miniature fire enameled and hand painted by the painter Beatrice Mellana depicting the painting "The Turkish slave" by Francesco Mazzola known as "il Parmigianino" (National Gallery of Parma). Dimensions cm. 8.5 x 11.5 x 3. Weight gr. 345. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1965 and manufactured in Florence in numerous specimens with various different subjects, in the headquarters of the Salimbeni company with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding numerous high-fire enameled firings at about 800° C. Miniature is a very ancient technique which consists of painting works in small proportions. It was born for the decoration of the first letter of the paragraph of the books. Over the years, however, this technique is refined and enriched, then moving on to precious personal items. Hand-painted miniatures can be done with multiple different techniques. The most important that we use on our articles are of three kinds: 1) Fire enamel. 2) Water tempera on an ivory plate. 3) Painted on mother-of-pearl. Fire enameled miniatures: On a first layer of enamel generally white or very clear or even transparent suitably liquefied at a temperature of about 750 ° C, the chosen subject is painted using miniature colors which are as many colored crystals, ground and reduced to a very fine, almost impalpable powder washed and purified in distilled water with the addition of small quantities of deoxidizing acids which, diluted with essential oils (usually essential oil of solder), can be mixed to form a palette of colors. With very fine sable hair brushes you draw the subject starting from the perimeter and then gradually adding various layers of color. It is necessary to carry out various firings very often so that the colors harden and are not absorbed by the underlying glaze as, during the subsequent firings at 750 ° C, during liquefaction, it would spread irremediably. Hence the need to form the painting a little at a time, cooking it numerous times. Therefore it is necessary to proceed with numerous retouching, often overlapping different colors that only the painter's experience knows. A beautiful miniature needs from 20 to over 50 firings and is finished when the painter deems he does not have to further intervene. Some colors must have darker tones than others because then, by superimposing the transparent enamel placed at the end of the miniature, they fade. This transparent layer, called “fondant” in jargon, must be smoothed and polished like all other translucent enamel colors. The miniatures with water tempera colors are painted on real ivory...

Bronze and porcelain jewelry box. Porcelain plaques painted by Johner. Neoclassical style. Vienna, circa 1900.

18th C Brass-Mounted Allegorical Motif Enamel Snuff Box, Attributed to the Fromery Workshop The Cartouche-shaped bombe box, the hinged lid applied with rais...

This is an Italian metal vermeil square compact with a hand painted pastoral scene of a romantic couple. It depicts a sheperdess resting in the lap of a shepherd in a garden with a f...

This beautiful box has a lot going on for it. Luscious green onyx is the primary material. Delicate cast gilt bronze filigree on the top covers a colorful enameled cameo of a woman....