Deakin & Francis Decorative Boxes

Round favor box or small container in cut crystal and lid in gold-plated 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent fired enamel on guilloché in a modern contemporary style. Diameter ...

A fine antique English solid sterling silver box with all over repousse decoration, the domed lid incorporating a vacant cartouche in the centre. The hinged lid is in perfect workin...

Rectangular table box in 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent fired enamels on the guilloche and, on the corners, miniature of floral shoots hand-painted by the painter Romano B...

This is Faberge style rectangular patinated 925 silver metal decorative box/cigarette case. It depicts a heavy hinged box very well ornamented. The top of the lid is covered by an octagonal shaped emerald green translucent guilloche enamel in the center. Over it, the Russian Double Headed Eagle...

Very large rectangular table cigar box in 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent enamels fired on guilloché on all sides, in a modern contemporary style. Interior lined in rosewoo...

Blackington Sterling Silver and Guilloché Enamel Box with Mirrored Lid, Circa 1920s A luminous sterling silver and guilloché enamel bo...

Octagonal pill box in gold-plated 925/100 sterling silver with translucent enamels fired on guilloché also on all sides and with a line on the lid. English Art Nouveau style, early 1...

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...

An absolutely stunning large antique Viennese sterling silver pill box made from a hefty gauge of Austrian silver. All sides are decorated with a white guilloche enamel showcasing...

Guilloché Enamel and Gilt-Silver Pill Box Bolin Produced 1882-1899 This Bolin pill box demonstrates the prestigious Russian house’s skill in guilloché enamel and silver work. The surface is adorned with off-white and pink enamel applied over a finely engine-turned ground. Its hinged lid opens to reveal a mirrored top interior. Complete with its original Bolin fitted case, the box is marked “Bolin” with an 88 zolotnik Moscow assay, dating it to the late 19th century. A rare and complete survival, it reflects the high-quality decorative work that established Bolin as a leading firm in Imperial Russia. The House of Bolin of St. Petersburg and Moscow served as jeweler to the Russian Imperial Court for over a century. Renowned for high-quality jewelry, silver and decorative objects, the firm exhibited internationally—including at the 1851 Great Exhibition—and became synonymous with refined craftsmanship for Russia’s aristocracy. Bolin’s silver...

Portapasticche ottagonale in argento 925/100 placcato oro con smalti traslucidi a fuoco su guillochè anche su tutti i fianchi e con rigo sul coperchio. Stile Art Nouveau Inglese prim...

Square box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè also on the sides. In the center, a beautiful hand painted tempera miniature on a vegetable ivory plate depicting the portrait of a 19th century lady, signed by the painter Anna Maria Manfriani. Dimensions cm. 12 x 12 x 2.5. Weight gr. 618. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1976 and manufactured in Florence in some 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 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...