French Silver and Enamel Snuff Box Hallmarked Benjamin Wolles

18th Century George III Period From our collectables, we are delighted to offer this Georgian Yew Wood Parrot Snuff Box. The snuff box made from Yew wood is beautifully formed in the shape of a parrot with big round beak, simulated feathers and feet tucked under the base of the snuff box. The box with visible patination and wear from years of handling leaving it in a beautiful golden brown colour. The sniff box...

Featuring multiple Landscape Scenes From our Collectables collection, we are delighted to introduce this Antique Papier Mache Snuff Box...

ENAMELLED SCENE TO THE LID From our Glassware collection, we are pleased to offer this Antique French Cranberry Glass Box. The box of oval form wi...

Sterling Silver Birmingham Hallmarks From our Silver collection, we are delighted to introduce this Art Nouveau Silver and Enamel Cigarette Case by Robert Chandler. The Silver and ...

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...

An elegant and very collectible 19th century French gilt metal, champlevé enamel and banded agate pill or snuff box made c. 1880. The box has oval form with a frieze of colourful fl...

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...

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...