Pill Box Fired Enamel with Hand Painted Horse Head Sterling Silver Salimbeni

Shaped pillbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with hand-painted miniature in Louis XVI style, second half of the 19th century, and fine hand engravings. Measure cm. 3,5 x 4,...

Octagonal pillbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired asu guillochè enamel also on all sides and monochrome hand-painted miniature on the lid. Dimensions c...

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 rounded pill box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with hand painted miniature fire-enamelled in Louis XVI style, second half of the 18th century, and fine hand-eng...

Shaped pill box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with hand painted miniature with fire enamelling in Louis XVI style, second half of the 19th century, and fine hand engravings...

Round domed pill box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent enamel fired on guilloche above and below, and hand-painted floral miniature. Viennese Art Nouveau style...

Gucci Sterling Silver Pill Box Elegant silver Patillero with stamps on the bottom and with the G characteristics on the lid. Adorned with the representation of a belt with enamel in ...

This fabulous rectangular sterling silver box was made in 1887 by English silversmiths William Thomas Wright and Frederick Davies and has been fitted with a hand painted enamel plaque on the lid that features a genre scene. The delightful image is set within an elegantly appointed salon and depicts an artist seated in front of a gilt-framed canvas that bears a partially completed portrait of a baby. The painter is surrounded by an entourage of sumptuously attired women who are attempting to capture the baby's attention and direct it toward the artist. The lid opens with a tapering tab at the front. The child's nurse holds her charge upright on a table that is covered by an ornate embroidered cloth trimmed in fringe. A lady dressed in purple stands next to her and leans toward the child in an attempt to cajole the baby into cooperating with the task at hand. The artist is seated opposite the child on an upholstered bench and holds his paintbrush in his right hand while simultaneously pointing up to a cluster of fruit. The fruit cluster is dangled by a lady dressed in a patterned yellow gown who wears a bemused expression on her face as she attempts to focus the baby's attention. Another woman dressed in blue and pink is seated in a green upholstered chair...

Sterling silver Victor Emanuel pill box. Antique blue enameled silver pill box with the crowned initials of King Victor Emanuel and House of Savoy rope emblem, stamped Masenza Rome. ...

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...

A small French sterling silver pill box, Art Nouveau period, decorated with flowers and a gold gilt interior, circa late-19th century, France. Piece ...

The box of rectangular shape with faceted corners topped with an enamel scene featuring three horses grazing by the watering trough amongst a sunburst enamel background. The interior...