Antique Reverse Painting with Foil of Floral Still Life

Elegant Anlo-Portuguese rosewood inlaid domed hinged box. The rich warm wood with floral inlays of mother of pearl and silver wire. 9.5 inch...

A very fine regency period mahogany tea caddy. Wonderful early surface that is rich with patina. The box expertly conceived and executed. The lid opens to reveal two lidded compartme...

Beautiful iron red lacquer Chinese table box. The red background with gilt decoration with carved bone inlay on the top. 9.5 inches square, T...

Beautiful gilt bronze table box, Austria, circa 1900. The Allegorical scene with engine turned details on the edge and sidesd resting on four small bronze button feet. Line in an emb...

Elegant English biscuit box with cut glass insert. The lid with a tapered finial handle and the body with elongated chain and post design. The oval stepped base resting on four bun f...

A fine English yew wood document box with an early silk needlework depicting a bucolic scene with dogs and cottage. The antique needlework is slightl...

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...

A stunning and scarce antique English Victorian era burlwood voting box. Hand-crafted in the 19th century, the small table box having a rectangular case with hinged lid top fitted w...

An antique porcelain box with floral chintz design, circa early-20th century, Europe. This porcelain box has a hinged lid with an all-white inter...

This antique trinket or jewelry box is unsigned, but presumed to have originated from England and date to approximately 1880 and done in the period Vic...

Antique black lacquer container with painted floral motifs used to store hats and personal belongings.

This vintage lucite and mixed-media box, vessel or container has a removable foiled enameled cloisonné top with a spectacular signed artistic design. The colors of the enamel top are...