Alphonse Debain Decorative Objects

Large rectangular table box with long rounded sides in 925/1000 sterling silver with fire-enamelled stripes in Art Deco style. With “lost” hinge, i.e. semi-invisible. Dimensions cm. 10.5 x 15 x 2.3. Weight gr. 548. Inspired by drawings by Louis Cartier from the early 1900s in Art Deco style and recreated for Cartier USA in the 1980s, manufactured in Florence in the Salimbeni company headquarters with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick and thick slabs reinforcements suitable for supporting numerous high-fire enamelled firings at about 800° C. About cooperation Salimbeni and Cartier. Our first meetings with the Cartier USA Company took place through the Giorgini Company, the first "Buying Office" set up in Florence immediately after the Second World War, which had the purpose of bringing together Florentine, and also Italian, producers with American buyers, who especially appreciated the artistic objects still manufactured by artisans who still took inspiration from the Italian Renaissance, using techniques handed down from generation to generation. Mrs. Gina Pestelli, wife of a Florentine retail jeweller, was in charge of contacts with Cartier USA, above all an employee, while her daughter, also for Giorgini, took care of the fashion that in those years was affirmed in Florence with the events of "Pitti ". With their help, we began to supply frames and boxes in sterling silver gold plated with malachite and other semi-precious stones. At the same time, the official buyer of Cartier, Mr. William Smith, began to appreciate and commission the first objects with fired enamels, a process of which we have always been specialists. In 1975 we began exhibiting at the prestigious New York Jewellery Association Show, which we participated in both the February and July editions, for a good 26 years until 2001. In New York in those years the "Art deco style" was still very much appreciated, still mindful of the beautiful early 20th century architecture of the great buildings such as the "Crysler" or the "Empire State". We then began to produce frames, boxes, evening bags, "objets de vertu" and other objects in "art deco style" which were very popular with Mr. Smith who gave us some photocopies of Louis Francois Cartier drawings to reproduce them. Thus, numerous cigarette cases, powder compacts, evening bags, frames and table boxes were created exclusively for Cartier USA which, at the time, had the prestigious "Silver Department" on the first floor of the Cartier store on Fifth Avenue. An evening bag, with matching cigarette case and powder compact, were redone on the design created for a gift given to Mary Pickford at the time. In a 1986 Cartier catalogue...

Hallmarked in Sheffield in 1930 by Atkin Brothers, this handsome, Sterling Silver Biscuit Box, is oval in shape, and features gadroon borders, and drop ring lion mask handles. The bi...

Heavy Cartier sterling silver reeded table box from the mid-century modern era. Rectangular with domed and ribbed top; straight sides; ribbed front and ba...

An absolutely stunning enamel box, French in origin with the boars head mark for solid silver (minimum 800/1000). The goldsmith's makers mark is also present, I think GB but a little...

Rectangular table box for cigarettes in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with hand-engraved design in Baroque style with two-tone fired enamels. Measure cm. 6.5 x 10.2 x 2. Weigh...

An exquisite Art Deco powder bowl by one of the finest quality English silversmith's, Walker and Hall of Sheffield. The base is made from fine quality crystal with beautiful hand-cutting and a star cut underside. The lid is made form silver-gilt (gold on silver) and is hallmarked for Sheffield 1930. The top is covered with a wonderful blue guilloche enamel, with a good bright patina showcasing the Art Deco engine turned design below. The bowl is lucky enough to have a vintage Swans Down...

Rectangular table box in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with very fine hand-engraving Baroque style on the lid, fire-enamelled in 2 colours. In the center an ancient oval plate...

George V sterling silver box. Made by Henry Matthews in Birmingham in 1930. Rectangular with straight sides. Corner posts on ball support. Cover flat and hinged; on top horizontal en...

This superb Table Cigar Box two-tone stripes enamel is in 925/1000 sterling silver. it has a rectangular shape with rounded sides Table Cigar Box has hand engraving, with orange and ...

George VI sterling silver box. Made by Robert Pringle & Sons in London in 1939. Rectangular with curved corners. Cover hinged and tabbed; top has engine-turned wave ornament and rect...

Heart-shaped table box in 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent enamel fired on guilloche above and below. Contemporary modern style. Dimensions cm. 9 x 9.5 cm high. 3.Weight gr....

Elizabeth II sterling silver box. Made by Harman Bros. in Birmingham in 1982. Excellent condition. Rectangular with straight sides. Cover flat and hinged. Engine-turned wave ornament in plain frames...