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Picture Frame Red enamel Empire Style Sterling Silver Salimbeni

About the Item

Large octagonal table frame for round photos diameter cm. 7, in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fired enamel on sunburst guilloche, with Napoleon III French Empire style borders and ornaments. External cm. 17 x 17. Weight gr. 483. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni in 1978 on the inspiration of previous artefacts from the early 1900s and manufactured in Florence at the headquarters of the Salimbeni company with completely manual execution by artisan artists with a very thick plate and large reinforcements suitable to support numerous high-fire enameling 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 catalogue, which we have, a photo of our compact was published. We still have many objects from this production and all the photos. At that time the President of Cartier USA was Mr. Ralph Destino and the property was of Mrs. Natalie Hocq. I had the pleasure of meeting them. At that time many others Italians silversmiths worked for Cartier USA. In the mid-1990s, Mrs. Natalie Hocq sold the company to her French cousins who brought everything together under the same ownership. Later we met Mrs. Hocq again in Paris where she had opened a new jewellery store, but we had no further meetings. The policy of the new French owners did not envisage maintaining the "silver department" (we don't know why, but the silverware in France ended up with Odiot and Puiforcat) and therefore the whole first floor of the building was dismantled and used for repairs of the building watchmaking. Mr. William Smith told us that we were no longer their suppliers and therefore we were no longer required to respect the exclusivity, which we have maintained in the USA for fairness.