Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Cigarette Case Fired Enamel with Still Life Miniature Sterling Silver Salimbeni

About the Item

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 plates and are watercolor paints which, being delicate, must be protected by glass and, above all, must not undergo washings or anything else over time because they fear humidity. The miniatures on mother-of-pearl are original and typical Russian and are painted with acrylic colors on smooth and shiny mother-of-pearl plates. The mirroring of the mother-of-pearl of the background creates very delicate reflective effects.

More From This Seller

View All
Cigarette Case Two-Tone Striped Fired Enamel Sterling Silver Salimbeni
By Franco Salimbeni, Salimbeni
Located in Firenze, FI
Rectangular table box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent two-tone striped fired enamel on guillochè and hand-engraved ornament. Late Empire Napoleon III style. ...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Napoleon III Cigar Boxes and Humidors

Materials

Sterling Silver, Enamel

Rectangular table cigarette case two-tone fire-enamelled stripes Salimbeni.
By Franco Salimbeni, Salimbeni
Located in Firenze, FI
Rectangular table cigarette case with rounded upper long sides, in 925/100 sterling silver and two-tone fire-enamelled stripes in a modern contemp...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Cigar Boxes and Humidors

Materials

Sterling Silver, Enamel

Snuff Box White Fire Enamel with Miniature of Bird Salimbeni
By Salimbeni, Franco Salimbeni
Located in Firenze, FI
Round snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fire enamel on guilloche and hand-painted miniature of stylized blue bird, late 19th-century Viennese Art Nou...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Art Deco Snuff Boxes and Tobacco Boxes

Materials

Sterling Silver, Enamel

Table Box for Cigarettes in Sterling Silver Sterling Enamel Salimbeni
By Salimbeni, Franco Salimbeni
Located in Firenze, FI
Rectangular table box for cigarettes in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with hand-engraved design in Baroque style with two-tone fired enamels. Measure cm. 6.5 x 10.2 x 2. Weigh...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Baroque Cigar Boxes and Humidors

Materials

Sterling Silver, Enamel, Gold Plate

Pocket Cigarette Case Geometric Design Sterling Silver Enamel Salimbeni
By Salimbeni, Giorgio Salimbeni
Located in Firenze, FI
Shaped rectangular pocket cigarette case in 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent fired enamels on guillochè with Art Deco style geometric de...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Art Deco Cigar Boxes and Humidors

Materials

Sterling Silver, Enamel

Snuff box Enamel Stripes and miniature Sterling Silver Salimbeni
By Franco Salimbeni, Salimbeni
Located in Firenze, FI
Shaped snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fire-enameled stripes and fine oval enameled miniature in center cm. 3 x 4 hand-painted by ...
Category

Vintage 1970s Italian Napoleon III Snuff Boxes and Tobacco Boxes

Materials

Sterling Silver, Enamel

You May Also Like

1920s Continental Silver Gilt Enamel Cigarette Case
Located in Firenze, IT
SHIPPING POLICY: No additional costs will be added to this order. Shipping costs will be totally covered by the seller (customs duties included). Of rectangular form, the hinged cover enameled depicting a young gentleman with 18th century clothes...
Category

Vintage 1920s British Art Nouveau Sterling Silver

Materials

Silver

Edwardian Antique Sterling Silver Cigar Case or Cigarette Case, Birmingham 1906
By William Hayes
Located in London, London
Hallmarked in Birmingham in 1906 by William Hayes, this attractive, Edwardian, Antique Sterling Silver Cigarette Case, features ...
Category

Antique Early 1900s English Edwardian Sterling Silver

Materials

Sterling Silver

Antique German Solid Silver and Enamel Erotic Cigarette Case c. 1900
Located in London, GB
A beautiful antique German solid Silver Cigarette Case with an enamel image on the front cover. This image shows a woman gazing at three lush pink roses with her translucent gown dra...
Category

Early 20th Century German Cigar Boxes and Humidors

Materials

Enamel, Silver

Antique German Silver & Enamel Cigarette Case c 1900 Erotic Nude Sea Ocean
Located in London, GB
A gorgeous Antique solid Silver Cigarette Case with an Enamel Image on the front cover. This Image shows a nude woman with long brown hair surrounded by a cresting wave in the ocean....
Category

Early 20th Century German Cigar Boxes and Humidors

Materials

Enamel

20th Century Sterling Silver Gilted Enameled Table Box
By Salimbeni
Located in VALENZA, IT
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...
Category

Vintage 1980s Italian Other Sterling Silver

Materials

Sterling Silver

Antique Sterling Silver Vesta Case with Enamel Portrait of Dog, W J Myatt & Co
Located in Braintree, GB
Antique sterling silver vesta case with enamel portrait of dog Made in Birmingham 1913 Maker: W J Myatt & Co Dimensions - Size: 3.6 x 3...
Category

Vintage 1910s British Edwardian Snuff Boxes and Tobacco Boxes

Materials

Sterling Silver

Recently Viewed

View All