SALIMBENI Furniture

Rectangular photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and hand-painted miniature of a garland of flowers with oval border interna...

Oval rounded "soap" shaped snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver with fired enamels above and below and hand-painted miniature of a horse's head, English "Art Nouveau" style, early 1900s. Measurements cm. 4.7 x 6.7 x 2. Weight gr. 96. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1980 and manufactured in Florence 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 high heat 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...

Rectangular oval shape pocket snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent blue fired enamel on guillochè and with the insertion of p...

Round snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling Silver gold plated with hand-painted miniature pastoral image fired enamelled. 18th century French style. Diameter cm. 8 cm high. 1.8. Weight gr. 171. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1968 on inspiration from previous boxes also manufactured in the Salimbeni company headquarters with manual workmanship by talented artisan artists with a thick plate suitable for supporting numerous glazing firings at high heat at around 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...

Round photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and hand-painted miniature of garlands of flowers in t...

Egg with tripod in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent blue fired enamel on guillochè and with the insertion of pure gold “paillons” in the shape of stars to create...

Octagonal table box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and beautiful hand-painted enamelled miniature by the painter Beatrice Mellana reproducing the portrait of Madame Drouais painted by her husband Francois Hubert in 1785 and conserved in the Louvre Museum. Fine hand-engravings on the sides. French Empire style. Measure cm. 8x8x3.7. Weight gr. 285. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1989 and manufactured in Florence in the headquarters of the Salimbeni company with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding numerous eamelled firings at high heat 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 with rounded sides in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and hand painted miniature parrotlets on flowering branches. Ar...

Rectangular snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with two-tone translucent stripes fired enamelled on guillochè and fine hand-engraved on all sides, French Empire Napoleo...

Table box in the shape of a four-leaf clover in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated and real malachite stone petals. Dimensions cm. 12 x 12 x 2.5 . Silver weight gr. 340. Designed b...

Shaped snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fire-enameled stripes and fine oval enameled miniature in center cm. 3 x 4 hand-painted by ...

Octagonal wedge box in 925/1000 sterling silver with black and white colors fire enameled in Art Deco style. Measures 7.8 x 7.8 x 6 cm. Weight gr. 281. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni ...

Shaped letter opener with rectangular base in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamels on guillochè. Base cm. 7.5 x 15.5 long letter opener cm. 21. Weight ...

Shaped snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with perforated, embossed and hand-engraved lid, with fine oval miniature cm. 3.2 x 4.5 hand painted in tempera on vegetable i...

Oval table box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fired enamel, with “paillons” in pure gold on the upper circle, fine miniature fired enamelled with an image of “fox hunti...

Picture frame with square exterior and oval ornament interior in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent blue enamel on guillochè and various pure gold "paillons" sandw...

Round snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fire enamel on guilloche and hand-painted miniature of stylized blue bird, late 19th-century Viennese Art Nou...

Square snuff box with two slightly domed sides in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and hand-painted miniature of flower bouquet, late 1...

Oval frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with two-color translucent strips fire-enameled on guillochè and hand-engraving and with French Empire Napoleon III style ornament...

Art deco octagonal table clock cm. 10x10 in 925/1000 gilded silver with translucent black and red fired enamels on guilloché, Swiss mechanical skeletal movement, winding 8 days The miniatures are hand-painted on a usually white homogeneous enamel base. The same colored glazes are used, but ground much finer, which are mixed with special oils to form an infinite palette of colors. The paint must be gradually dried on electric stoves...

An exceptional, fine and impressive vintage Italian sterling silver and enamel photograph frame, an addition to our ornamental silverware colle...

20th century sterling silver table clock 925/1000 with fire enamel painted as lapis lazuli, Swiss quartz movement "Nepro". Made in Italy. The Miniatures are hand-painted on a usually white homogeneous enamel base. The same colored glazes are used, but ground much finer, which are mixed with special oils to form an infinite palette of colors. The paint must be gradually dried on electric stoves...

Round shaped box Made in Italy Silver Gilted 925/1000 with translucent enamels on guilloche with hand painted floral miniatures and gold paillons The Miniatures are hand-painted on a usually white homogeneous enamel base. The same colored glazes are used, but ground much finer, which are mixed with special oils to form an infinite palette of colors. The paint must be gradually dried on electric stoves...

Sterling silver fully handmade Picture frame. Made in Italy Silver 925/1000 with translucent enamels on guilloche with hand-painted floral miniatures. Blue velvet back. Measures...

Silver table clock 925/1000 golden with translucent fire polishes in stripes on hand-engraved guillochè, Swiss mechanical skeletal movement 8 days The miniatures are hand-painted on a usually white homogeneous enamel base. The same colored glazes are used, but ground much finer, which are mixed with special oils to form an infinite palette of colors. The paint must be gradually dried on electric stoves...

Black with white milk design Rectangular photo frame in 800/1000 silver gold plated with fire enamels. External cm. 13.4 x 17.4 Internal cm. 9 x 13. Weight gr. 199. Created in Art Deco style for Cartier USA in the 1980s, inspired by drawings by Louis Cartier from the early 1900s. Made 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 approximately 750° < 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...

Rectangular photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent blue fired enamel on guillochè and with the insertion of pure gold "paillons" in the shape of stars t...