Viennese Austrian Silver Gilt Guilloche Enamel Gem Set Box

An exceptional and rare antique silver snuffbox reading 'PRESENTED TO St. Mr. P CAMPION, 1st Bn 19th Foot, by His, BROTHER SERJEANTS, As A Mark of Their, Sincere Regard.' in its original shaped fitted case and made by Cronin & Wheeler, Birmingham in 1847. The snuff box, probably unused, is simply stunning the cartouche shaped body engraved with rococo 'C' scrolls, engine turning and floral sprays with a hinged cover and richly gilded interior. The box has clear and crisp silver assay and makers marks to the cover and base and has date marks for 1847. Provenance: The property of a gentleman. Sergeant Major Patrick Campion was enlisted with the 19th Foot in 1838 and served in Malta, the Ionian Islands, the West Indies, Canada, the Crimea and India amongst other postings. He received a DCM at the Battle of Alma ‘for his gallant rescue, in company with a couple of his comrades, of a wounded officer of his own company, who was lying in front of the Russian line’s.’ and despite being injured in this act, he recovered and would see action at Inkerman, Redan and the siege of Sevastopol. Wear to the leather covered fitted case...

An exceptional and stunning Art Nouveau silver buckle inset with guilloche enamels made by W E Patterson, Birmingham and dated 1908. The rect...

An extremely fine quality antique heavy gauge Japanese silver incense box, the cover inset with a copper and inlaid metal panel depicting a seated figure drinking from a large bowl a...

An unusual and stylish Danish Bronze box mounted with an enamel plaque with sailing boats marked Smedien and dating from around 1930. The rectangula...

An absolutely stunning enamel box, French in origin with the boars head mark for solid silver (minimum 800/1000). The goldsmith's makers mark is also present, I think GB but a little...

Rectangular table box in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with very fine hand-engraving Baroque style on the lid, fire-enamelled in 2 colours. In the center an ancient oval plate...

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...

A silver box with Guilloche, Industria Argentina A silver box with wooden interior. The box is decorated with guilloche pattern. Silver 925 (purity 925/1000) and marked with Indus...