Giovanni Ottaviani Decorative Objects

Beautifully crafted of hammered silver -- now with a soft, old silver patina -- enamel and rosewood, this exceptional decorative box depicts a wildly imaginative crane-like bird with...

This iconic miniature cedar chest by Lane is a timeless piece of American craftsmanship, originally designed as a "hope chest" salesman sample or a graduation gift. Constructed from ...

An elegant Art Deco solid silver cigar box of shaped rectangular form, the hinged lid finely decorated with a striking engine-turned geometric design characteristic of the period. Th...

Description: Silver snuff box with embossed designs and hinged lid. Metal: Silver. Origin: English. Brand: Birmingham. Weight: 74.18 grams. Dimensions: 11x2.5cm. Content: 925/1000. A...

This antique box is signed by an unknown maker, but presumed to have originated from the UAE and date to approximately 1920 and done in the period Bessarabian style. The box is compo...

For your consideration, a 1960s German modernist teak wood jewelry box with abstract enamel metal plate. Attributed to Schibensky Bunge. Unmarked. Dimensions: 4" W x 1.5" H x 3.5" D...

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

Round favor box with lid in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and hand-painted miniature of a bouquet of flowers in Art Nouveau style. B...

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...

Ottaviani Italian Playing Card Box in polished walnut, designed as an elegant double sliding case. Each lid is decorated with embossed silver panels featuring a stylized female profi...

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...

Solid sterling silver box in the form of a chestnut. All handmade. Signed Fasano, Turin Italy. Measures: Depth 7.5 cm., width 15.4 cm., height 12.8 cm. Weight 340 gr.