Snuff Box "Soap" Shaped with Horse's Head Sterling Silver Enamel Salimbeni

Rounded square pill box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with white fired enamel, above and below, with hand painted horse head. Dimensions cm. 5.2 x 5.2 x 2.3. Weight gr. 117. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1966 on the inspiration of previous artefacts made in the English Art Nouveau style of the early 1900s and manufactured in the Salimbeni company headquarters in Florence in numerous specimens also with different subjects, with completely manual execution by artisan artists with a slab of high thickness suitable for supporting numerous enamelled firings at around 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...

Shaped table box in 925/1000 sterling Silver gold plated with fired enamels painted like lapis lazuli stone and with fired enameled oval miniature, hand painted by the painter Renato...

Sterling Silver Pill Box with Equestrian Enamel Scene, in the English Style, 20th C A charming vintage sterling silver pillbox featuring a finely hand-painted enameled panel depicting a racehorse and jockey in a pastoral landscape, executed in the English sporting style. The chestnut brown horse is shown in profile, standing in a grassy field beneath a pale sky, while the jockey wears traditional racing silks in green and gold, seated calmly in the saddle. Though unmarked for country of origin, the box is clearly stamped “STERLING,” indicating likely American or Continental manufacture, 20th C. The enamel panel is delicately domed and bezel-set into the lid. The silver body is plain and rectilinear with a hinged lid that opens smoothly and closes securely. Dimensions: Width: 1.5 inches Depth: 1 inch Height: 0.5 inch A beautifully detailed piece, ideal for collectors of equestrian memorabilia, vintage enamel...

A superb antique 19th Century English sterling silver equestrian horseshoe vesta case match box and striker. Hallmarked, Birmingham, England 1887. Acquired from a collector's estate ...