Antique German 18-Karat Gold and Hand-Painted Enamel Snuff Box, circa 1780

Antique early 20th century Imperial Russian 14-karat solid gold & hand painted enamel pill box, the lid hand painted depicting two sisters picking roses in the garden, within a carto...

Antique mid 19th century French 18k gold snuff box, of lobed design with chased scroll and foliate decoration, the hinged cover inset with a circula...

Antique late 19th Century Austrian Renaissance revival solid silver-gilt and enameled trinket box, beautifully enamelled throughout dipicting various mythological scenes. Apparently ...

Antique 19th Century Victorian silver mounted ram’s head snuff mull, the head is fitted with a silver compartment for snuff, chased with thistles and centred by a facetted oval cryst...

Antique early 20th Century German solid silver & enamel cigarette case, of slightly cushioned rectangular form with rounded corners, depicting a three horse race and richly parcel gi...

Antique early 20th Century German solid silver & enamel cigarette case, of slightly curved rectangular form with rounded corners, depicting a horse steeplechase and richly parcel gil...

A fine antique French or German porcelain snuff box. Dating to the 18th (or possibly early 19th) century. Decorated throughout with...

Art Déco french hand-crafted 18-karat gold and enamel circular pill/snuff box By: unknown Material: enamel, gold, metal Technique: brushed, cast, enameled, etched, gilt, hand-crafte...

Round snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fired enamel on the enameled edge with vertical stripes and fine monochrome miniature hand painted by the painter Renato Dainelli. Diameter cm. 6.2 cm high. 3.4. Weight gr. 222. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1967 and produced in Florence in the Salimbeni company headquarters with manual workmanship by skilled artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding numerous high-fire enamelled firings at approximately 750 < 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...

This papier mache snuff box is decorated with a hand painted portrait of a well dressed lady of the early nineteenth century. Possibly by Stobwa...

German gold & porcelain snuff box Maker's Mark F(-) Crowned, Hanau Circa 1780, - Struck with the Hanau Town Mark for 18k Gold and a mark resembling the P...

This exceptional 19th-century gold box appears at first glance be an exquisite snuff box adorned with a charming Swiss enamel vista encircled by a multitude of natural pearls. A quick wind of the key, however, reveals the complex mechanism hidden inside, and the box plays a wistful tune. Once known as carillons à musique...