Vintage Italian Silver Miniature Enamel Painted Duck

Mario Buccellati vintage 800. Italian silver duckling figurine. Made Italy, Milano, Ca.1930's Fully Hallmarked. The furry duckling figurine i...

Mario Buccellati Italian 925 sterling silver fallow - deer figurine. Made in Italy, circa 1950s Fully hallmarked. Dimensions: Length x width x...

Mario Buccellati Italian 925 sterling silver St Bernard's dog sculpture. Made in Italy, circa 1950s Fully hallmarked. The silver sculpture of a St. Bernard dog with a barrel ar...

Vintage sterling silver gilded clown surprise egg Maker: Stuart Devlin Made in London 1972 Limited edition, Nr.12 Fully hallmarked. Dimensions: Diameter x height: 5 x 7 cm W...

Antique early 20th century set of four 800. Italian silver and ormolu figural groups. Made in Italy, Naples, first half of 20th century. Hallmarked with 800. Silver and 45NA maker'...

Silver statue 'Bowling player' with a wooden base, used as award or trophy Maker: W.J.L (unidentified) Made in 1923 Fully hallmarked. Dimensions: Approximate 13 x 8.5 x 17 cm ...

Miniature in solid 800 silver reproducing D'Artagnan The miniature was made of solid silver with the fusion technique and subsequently finished with a chisel. The final finish was in natural, burnished silver and with 24kt gold details. Marble base By Geca Silversmith - MIlan - Italy for ARVAL ARGENTI VALENZA Silver statuette representing Charles de Batz-Castelmore, comte d'Artagnan. In 1630, aged about 20, he went to Paris to join the French Guards on the recommendation of a relative of his mother, the lord of Tréville, who also appears in Dumas' novels as his protector . It was at this time that the young Charles decided to adopt the surname d'Artagnan, that of his mother's family. The paternal branch in fact belonged to the bourgeoisie, and Charles preferred to use the surname that would have given him more prestige. Thus it was that the royal d'Artagnan did 15 years of military service until Cardinal Mazarin...

Miniature in 925 sterling silver depicting a saddle, boots, hat and whip for a jockey resting on a wooden fence. The workmanship is in fusion and finished with chisel. The object c...

Figure realized in sterling silver using the lost wax process. The details are gilded and enameled. The figure is 18 cm high and depicts a 15th century Italian...

6238-7239- Pocket cigarette case with spring button in 925/1000 fire-enamelled sterling silver with beautiful vessel miniature hand-painted by th...

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...

Rectangular table cigarette box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamels on guillochè and fine miniature hand painted...