Engraved Decorative Objects

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...

Jewelry box completely handmade in gold-plated sterling silver and brown fire enamel in the shape of a trunk. The shape is rectangular with a convex hinged lid. The frame of the jewe...

Collection Nr3, six watch box made from hardened glass and a solid bog-oak wood frame. Detailed with brass finger joints and hinges. Each product houses, three, six or ten watches at...

Rectangular photo frame in gold-plated 925/1000 sterling silver, with translucent fired enamel stripes on guilloche, two-tone ruby red and emerald green, in a modern contemporary sty...

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 photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent ruby red fired enamel on guilloché and with ornaments in the French Empire Napoleon III style. External size...

A fine early repeating carriage clock in an engraved one piece case. With a gilt engin turned mask, and a white enamel dial and roman numerals. The gilded case is engraved with foliate scrollwork, the 8 day repeating movement with English lever platform escapement strikes on a gong, is regulated by a silvered english lever platform escapement, although unsigned this clock is of the highest quality and is likely to have been made by one of the great Parisian makers. The gong block is signed FD in an oval cartouche, this supplier was used by both Henri Jacot...

Sterling silver letter opener, hand-shaped from a raw sterling silver sheet. The handle, depicting a hunting dog surrounded by flowers and leaves, was cast, chiseled, curved, and sol...

Art Nouveau glass vase with engraved silver overlay, ca 1900. Baluster with gently flared mouth and round foot. Vertical overlay pattern in form of flowers with leafing and budding s...

Large shaped frame for photographs in gold plated 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent two-tone fired enamels on guillochè and rich friezes in the French Empire Louis XVI style ...

Rectangular frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guilloche, English style, early 1900s. External cm. 7 x 9 internal cm. 3.8 x 5.8. Weight g...

Large photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with painted fire enamels like lapis lazuli stone. Shaping taken from the tiles of the North Door of the Baptistery of the F...

Rectangular table box with concave corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on fine hand engraving of a landscape with ruins. Contemporary modern...

Square snuff box with rounded sides in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and hand painted miniature parrotlets on flowering branches. Ar...

This stunning Picture Frame is in 925/1000 sterling silver. Picture Frame Louis XVI has a squared shape with green and sky blue color for the fire enameled surface on guilloche and h...

American Art Nouveau glass vase with engraved silver overlay, ca 1900. Curved, tapering, and ribbed. Floral overlay in form of distended flower heads and tight buds with entwined and...

Rectangular photo frame in 925/1000 silver with geometric design and fire-enameled with Chinese influence style. External cm. Internal 11.6 x 14.6 cm. 6 x 9. Weight gr. 194. Created in Art Deco style for Cartier USA in the 1980s, inspired by drawings by Louis Cartier from the early 1900s. Manufactured in Florence in the Salimbeni company headquarters with completely manual execution by artisan artists with high thickness plate and large reinforcements suitable to support numerous high-fire enamelling firings at approximately 750° < 800° C. It is a new object that has never been used but is considered vintage because it was built more than 20 years ago. The hallmarks struck to the underside of this fine box include: manufacturer's mark: 391FI metal mark fineness:925 Art Deco was also born in France and is the abbreviation of "Art Decoratif". With more decisive and geometric features than Art Nouveau, therefore more evident and "harder", with always contrasting and strong colours, Art Deco spread throughout the world, from Shanghai's China to the under construction New York and in various parts of Europe. Many artists and designers of the time dedicated themselves to the creation of drawings, paintings, objects for personal use and furniture, interior furnishings, entire buildings and skyscrapers, in this new style. Sandoz in Paris, Lalique with its crystals, Puiforcat with its silverware, Erté with its "ante litteram" fashion designs, Tiffany with its table lamps, Louis Cartier with its objects inspired by the Far East (hence the connection with Shanghai). Salimbeni was able to interpret and propose new objects inspired by Art Deco, in precious metals, semiprecious stones and fired enamels, when, exhibiting at jewelery exhibitions in the United States, and more precisely in New York, he made contact with Cartier buyers first, and also with Tiffany later, and for them he created objects in this style inspired by the original drawings of Louis Cartier, obtained from the buyer of the time, but with absolutely different and original designs and interpretations. Many of the objects produced by Salimbeni for Cartier in the United States had taken inspiration from famous Cartier objects belonging to famous people. An example of all is Mary Pickford's set consisting of a powder compact, cigarette case, pill case and evening handbag. About cooperation Salimbeni and Cartier. Our first meetings with the Cartier USA Company took place through the Giorgini Company, the first "Buying Office" set up in Florence immediately after the Second World War, which had the purpose of bringing together Florentine, and also Italian, producers with American buyers, who especially appreciated the artistic objects still manufactured by artisans who still took inspiration from the Italian Renaissance, using techniques handed down from generation to generation. Mrs. Gina Pestelli, wife of a Florentine retail jeweller, was in charge of contacts with Cartier USA, above all an employee, while her daughter, also for Giorgini, took care of the fashion that in those years was affirmed in Florence with the events of "Pitti ". With their help, we began to supply frames and boxes in sterling silver gold plated with malachite and other semi-precious stones. At the same time, the official buyer of Cartier, Mr. William Smith, began to appreciate and commission the first objects with fired enamels, a process of which we have always been specialists. In 1975 we began exhibiting at the prestigious New York Jewellery Association Show, which we participated in both the February and July editions, for a good 26 years until 2001. In New York in those years the "Art deco style" was still very much appreciated, still mindful of the beautiful early 20th century architecture of the great buildings such as the "Crysler" or the "Empire State". We then began to produce frames, boxes, evening bags, "objets de vertu" and other objects in "art deco style" which were very popular with Mr. Smith who gave us some photocopies of Louis Francois Cartier drawings to reproduce them. Thus, numerous cigarette cases, powder compacts, evening bags, frames and table boxes were created exclusively for Cartier USA which, at the time, had the prestigious "Silver Department" on the first floor of the Cartier store on Fifth Avenue. An evening bag, with matching cigarette case and powder compact, were redone on the design created for a gift given to Mary Pickford at the time. In a 1986 Cartier...

This Val Saint Lambert vase is a rare example of a pattern that was only used for goblets and most likely a custom order. It is hand blown crystal with cobalt blue overlay cut to cle...

Octagonal snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with English Queen Anne style borders and sides with translucent fired enamel on hand engraving similar to wood grain. On t...

Rectangular table cigarette case with rounded corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on a fine hand-engrave...

A very elegant & charming antique sterling silver miniature locket vinaigrette by James Fenton, Birmingham, 1872. This miniature vinaigrette would have been worn as a locket on a chain...

a Set of 5 Piece GLASS OBJECTS, Monica Bratt, Ruby Red Candle Holder / Jug Reimyre, Elme Gift Set Including two candle holders, a jug, a bowl, and a ...

Snuff box “savonette” shape in 925/1000 sterling silver with fire enamel and hand painted miniature on white background depicting two heads of running horses . English “Art Nouveau” ...

This antique engraved sterling silver cigarette or decorative box was made in Japan in approximately 1900 in the period Japonisme style. The box is composed of an ebonized hardwood c...

Pair of egyptian revival desktop brass obelisks circa 1920. Here we have a pair of art deco period decorative items.  Polished brass obelisks decorated each side with egyptian hiero...

Art Nouveau sterling silver and clear glass inkwell. Made by Tiffany & Co. in New York. Bellied and lobed clear glass base with short inset foot and carved and engraved stylized flow...

This jewelry box is built similar to a Roman/Greek Pantheon with 17 Silver bordered hand painted enamel panels. The panels are embellished with romantic pastoral couple scenes and po...

Large biscuit box in solid 800 silver. The cup is round, smooth and has been raised with a round stepped base with an English border. A striped border has also been soldered on the u...

Italian Cast Brass Four Burner Lucerne Oil Lamp Antique Circa 1850. Cast brass four with 4 wick burner Lucerne oil lamp with four hanging wick tools, an adjustable under-font collect...

This is a rare pair of tall handblown crystal candlesticks made by Moser in the ever popular Art Nouveau "Paula" pattern. Most often seen only as stemware, these exhibit all of the c...

Shaped oval photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on sunburst guillochè and Louis XVI French Empire style ornaments. External dimensions c...

Octagonal snuff box in gilded 925/1000 silver with English Queen Anne style borders and sides with fired enamels painted like lapis lazuli stone. On the lid, a very fine fire-enamell...

A fine antique 19th century Mughal Nargile or hookah pipe base made of brass or bronze, the base with engraving and etching decorations. Mameluke revival brass hookah base, elaborately and elegantly hand decorated, engraved with with a recessed repeated floral motif, leaf, foliage and arabesques. Collectible Antique Indian Islamic Mughal engraved brass hookah base, bottle. This fascinating Indo-Persian Brass Engraved Vessel Hookah Base dates from the 19th century, where it was used as a water base for a hookah, or shisha pipe. In traditional hookah smoking, the base of the pipe is normally the most decorative element of the piece. This vase has a beautiful shape and feel. It is intricately engraved with a arabesque foliage designs Mughal Northern India - 19th century. A nargile or hookah pipe's history dates back as far back as the 16th century, This charming piece has an elegant profile, will make a stunning vase, candle holder or shelf or mantel decoration...

Unusually dramatic and flamboyant, this is one of the most distinctive engraved Art Deco vases we have seen by Vicke Lindstrand, who returned again and again to the theme of male div...

Perfume Holder with black stripes is in 925/1000 sterling silver. Perfume Holder with black stripes has black fired stripes enamels. Perfume Holder with black stripes has a screw cap...

Picture Frame Black high relief is in 925/1000 sterling silver . Picture Frame Black high relief has black fired enamels. Picture Frame Black high relief has fine high relief engravi...

An art-glass vase designed by Laila Von Wendel for Strömbergshyttan . This is a fabulous highly decorative glass vase created in Sweden by the art glass company of Strömbergshyttan,...

Rectangular table frame for 3 oval photos cm. 3.2 x 4.2 each in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guilloche, with French Empire Napoleon III style...

The essence holder box is spherical, hinged and hand-drilled to allow the fragrance to escape. A rotating silver plate has been fixed on the edge which serves as a safety lock. The s...

Small table clock in gold-plated 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent enamel fired on guilloche, with columns in neo-classical Hellenic style. Swiss mechanical movement from Mai...

Square photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver with fire-enamelled Art Deco-style geometric design. External dimensions cm. 14.5 x 14.5 internal cm. 9 x 9. Weight gr. 260. Designed b...

The ceramic sculpture depicts Napoleon in his famous iconography: he wears his classic headdress, his typical suit that runs down his body, tight-fitting canvas pants that end in bla...

Shaped frame for 2 photographs in sterling Silver 925/1000 gold plated with translucent fired enamels on guillochè and hand-painted floral miniatures. Viennese Art Nouveau style seco...

800 silver table alarm clock. The clock has a rectangular case and a guilloché design with a further parallelepiped as a base left polished which gives it elegance and stability. The...

Rectangular photo frame in gold plated 925/1000 sterling silver with translucent fired enamels on two-tone striped guillochè. In a contemporary style. Ground glass and velvet panel. ...

Edwardian Regency sterling silver inkstand. Made by William Comyns in London in 1905. Serpentine with splayed corner bracket supports; applied ribboned garland and trophies. Bellied ...

Octagonal snuff box in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated with borders in the English Queen Anne style and sides with translucent fired enamels on ...

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...

Octagonal table box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè and beautiful hand-painted enamelled miniature by the painter Beatrice Mellana reproducing the portrait of Madame Drouais painted by her husband Francois Hubert in 1785 and conserved in the Louvre Museum. Fine hand-engravings on the sides. French Empire style. Measure cm. 8x8x3.7. Weight gr. 285. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1989 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 eamelled 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...

Beautiful engraving by Louis Gareau after a painting by Pieter Van Laer entitled "The children". The painting was in the gallery of His Serene Highness Monseigneur Le Duc D'Orleans The scene represents children playing in ruins. The ruins are widely present and structure the painting, they recall the archaeological discoveries made at that time. Pieter Van Laer is a 17th century Dutch painter, draftsman and printmaker. His style is imitated by several artists called "bamboccianti". He left for France, in order to make his study trip. He then settled in Italy, more precisely in Rome, where he ended up settling. He belonged to a brotherhood of Dutch painters established in Italy. Italian influences are found in its decorations. He painted numerous scenes from popular life with a Dutch character (festive scenes, game scenes...

Rectangular table box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent two-tone striped fired enamel on guillochè and hand-engraved ornament. Late Empire Napoleon III style. ...

Cylindrical handbag perfume holder in 925/1000 sterling Silver gold plated with screwed cap and fine manual engraving of peach blossom shoots, fire enamelled with various colours, in...

Elegant Murano glass vase, embellished with refined engravings. The vase is chalice-shaped, with an everted rim, a ringed base, and a molded foot. The uniqueness and elegance of this...

800 silver bowl embossed and chiseled with Strelitzia Flowers. The body of the bowl is round and very rounded where 3 symmetrical strelitzia flowers have been embossed and engraved, ...

Oval frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with two-color translucent strips fire-enameled on guillochè and hand-engraving and with French Empire Napoleon III style ornament...

Transport yourself to the elegance of the 19th Century with this exquisite English Sterling Silver Covered Top and brilliant Cut Glass Perfume Bottle. The perfume bottle showcases...

Shaped snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fired enamel inserted in a fine hand engraving and with round miniature diameter cm. 3.3 hand painted always with fire enamels depicting a sailing ship. Early 19th century Viennese Baroque style. Fine hand engraving on all sides and bottom. Measurements cm. 7.5 x 7.5 x 2. Weight gr. 151. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1976 on inspiration of ancient original artifacts and manufactured in Florence at the Salimbeni company headquarters in several specimens, also with different colors and miniatures, with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slabs and large reinforcements suitable for supporting 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...

Perfume holder with octagonal base in black and white fired enamelled 925/1000 sterling silver with screw cap, in Art Deco style. Base cm, 4.3 x 4.7 bottle height cm. 8, total height...

Inferno canto 20 engraving by Salvador Dali. it describe a scene of the Divine comédie de Dante : And striking his head, he said: "I am thrown down here to suffer the flatteries of my tireless tongue". In 1950 the Italian government commissioned Dali to illustrate Dante Alighieri’s, Divina Commedia...

Rectangular photo frame in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè, with French Empire Louis XVI style border and rich ornamentation around th...