Italian Snuff Boxes and Tobacco Boxes

Round snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with fired enamel on the enameled edge with vertical stripes and fine monochrome miniature hand painted by the painter Renato Dainelli. Diameter cm. 6.2 cm high. 3.4. Weight gr. 222. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1967 and produced in Florence in the Salimbeni company headquarters with manual workmanship by skilled artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for withstanding 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...

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...

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...

Dali-esque gilt metal snuff box bejeweled with light blue rhinestones and shaped like a surrealist human nose and lips . Magnetic closure. Yellow enameled interior. Amusing containe...

Gucci Vintage tobacco container or candy box made in glass and stitched leather and the typical green red fabric stripes and made by Gucci in the 1960s...

Art Déco cigarette box Italy 1940 Wood H 7 cm - 21 × 26 cm Conditions: excellent consistent with age and use.

Ashtray stand. Base in polypropylene, container in aluminium and steel support frame, painted in the shade black for outdoors.

Beautiful parchment pill box designed in the 1950s of fine Italian manufacture. The pill box is small with a rectangular shape, made entirely of light green parchment on the outside...

Italian micro mosaic plaque mounted within snuff box, depicting white and brown hound seated on grass. Circle of Giacomo Raffaelli (1753-1836). R...

Rounded rectangular snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling Silver gold plated with beautiful fire enamelled miniature hand-painted by the painter Renato Dainelli of a basket with flowers, in ...

Rare and original metal Boxe by Piero Fornasetti from 50's, decorated with pipes, with the original package. in very good and original condition, used for matches, cigarettes jewelry...

Rounded rectangular snuffbox in 925/1000 sterling silver with fine hand-painted fire-enamelled miniature depicting the Head of the Statue of Liberty in New York. Dimensions cm. 5.5 x 7 x 1.8. Weight gr. 105. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni in 1975 in Art Deco style and executed in numerous specimens, at the specific request of the firm Tiffany Co., in Florence in the headquarters of the Salimbeni firm with completely manual execution by artisan artists with thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for sustaining 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...

Round snuff box in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with translucent fire enamel on guilloche and hand-painted miniature of stylized blue bird, late 19th-century Viennese Art Nou...

Solid silver box for tobacco. The box was made entirely by hand starting from a silver sheet and subsequently shaped and welded giving it an oval and rounded shape. The external part of the body of the box has been polished with pumice stone making it smooth and shiny, while the hand hammering is clearly visible inside the box. The lid was embossed and hand engraved with the figure of a Scottish man...