Austrian Silver & Enamel Horse Snuff Box

Oval rounded "soap" shaped snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver with fired enamels above and below and hand-painted miniature of a horse's head, English "Art Nouveau" style, early 1900s. Measurements cm. 4.7 x 6.7 x 2. Weight gr. 96. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1980 and manufactured in Florence 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 high heat 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...

An exceptional, fine and impressive antique Austrian silver table snuff box; an addition to our ornamental silverware collection. This excepti...

English silver horse racing snuff box, Birmingham 1829 A silver snuff box with a scene from horse racing on top of the hinged lidded box. On the sides a guilocche pattern and inside...

Square snuff box with two slightly domed sides in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and hand-painted miniature of flower bouquet, late 1...

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 ...

This elegant set of four Austrian Art Deco pill boxes, crafted circa 1920, showcases the refined luxury and craftsmanship typical of early-20th-century European silverwork. Each box ...

An impressive Antique Victorian solid Silver Table Snuff Box with an ornate chased border and an engraved horse racing scene on the lid. The rectangular Box has a decorative shaped b...

Rectangular snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with two-tone translucent stripes fired enamelled on guillochè and fine hand-engraved on all sides, French Empire Napoleo...

CARL HEISS - Antique - finest quality - silver and rose gold hinged snuff box with delicate diamond tooled surface - reverse painted French Bulldog on Rock Crystal Intaglio...

Snuff Box Silver is in 925/1000 sterling. Snuff Box Silver has black fired enamels on guilloché. Snuff Box Silver has a lid with geometric design ...