Sterling Silver Gold-Plated Cigarette Case with Florentine Mosaic, Salimbeni

Rectangular table cigarette case with rounded corners in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with beautiful miniature fire enamelled and hand painted by the painter Beatrice Mellana reproducing a "still life" by the Flemish painter Willem Claes Heda. Dimensions cm. 5.7 x 9 x 1.7. Weight gr. 174. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1969 and manufactured in Florence in numerous 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...

Rectangular desk cigarette case with rounded corners in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with fine hand-painted fire-enameled miniature depicting a romantic couple in Art Nouveau...

Hallmarked in Birmingham in 1906 by William Hayes, this attractive, Edwardian, Antique Sterling Silver Cigarette Case, features ...

An exceptional, fine and impressive vintage Elizabeth II English sterling silver cigarette box in the Art Deco style; an addition to the ornamental silverware collection. This exceptional vintage Elizabeth II sterling silver cigarette box has a plain rectangular form onto four bracket style feet. The surface of this impressive silver box is embellished with impressive engine turned decoration. The box is fitted with two hallmarked hinged covers each embellished with further panels of engine turned decoration in addition to an applied leaf border which continues across a central plateau. The interior of each solid silver cover features a paralleling band of engine turned decoration in addition to the part hallmarks; decoration to the posterior surface of a cover is an indication of the fine quality of a piece. The central plateau is surmounted with an impressive shaped handle, in the Art Deco style. The body of this exceptional box features the original cedar wood lining. This antique Art Deco cigarette box has a weighted base and retains the original leatherette covering to the underside. The box is supported by four impressive cast silver, Art Deco style stepped bracket feet. By virtue of its size this versatile vintage cigarette box could be used for a multitude of functions. Note: The majority of such boxes have a wood lining to the cover; it is a sign of quality when boxes have an unlined, solid silver covers. Condition This vintage silver cigarette box...