Sterling Silver Serveware, Ceramics, Silver and Glass

Table box in the shape of a four-leaf clover in sterling silver 925/1000 gold plated and real malachite stone petals. Dimensions cm. 12 x 12 x 2.5 . Silver weight gr. 340. Designed b...

Large, sterling silver, wood-backed picture frame, Birmingham, England, 1921, Gulienetti and Co., Ltd. - makers. Measures 10 inches high (at highest point) x 8 inches wide at widest ...

Rectangular box with rounded corners in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on guillochè with hand-engraved and enamelled Arab-style ornament. Dimensio...

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...

Art Nouveau Period, sterling silver, wood-backed picture frame, Chester, England, year-hallmarked for 1903, H. Matthews - maker. Frame measures 4 1/2 inches high (at highest point) x...

Art Nouveau Period, sterling silver-mounted iridescent green Art Glass 2-handled bud vase, London, year-hallmarked for 1901. Measures 7 1/4 inches high x 3 inches diameter (at widest...

Table ashtray in the shape of a four-leaf clover with structure in 925/1000 sterling Silver gold plated and external and internal lining in real malachite stone. Dimensions cm. 12 x ...

Art Nouveau Sterling overlay green Vase, American C.1910. Tapered bulbous form, the lower section with art nouveau sterling overlay decorative surround, the green glass slightly tape...

Arts and Crafts, sterling silver, hump-top picture frame with wood back, Chester England, year-hallmarked for 1911, H. Williamson, Ltd. - maker. Beautiful, hammered design. Vacant ca...

Edwardian, sterling silver, hump-topped, wood-backed picture frame, Birmingham, England, 1912, Charles and Turner - makers. Measures 8 inches high (at highest point) x 4 3/4 inches w...