Description

Rectangular photo frame in gold plated 925/1000 sterling silver with fine engraving of fruit (cherries) fire enamelled with polychrome colours, contemporary style. Ground glass and alcantara back panel. External measurements cm. 13 x 17, internal cm. 8.5 x 12.5. Weight gr. 192. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni in 1980 and produced in the Salimbeni company headquarters with manual workmanship by skilled artisan artists with a thick slab suitable for withstanding numerous enamelled firings at high heat at about 750° <800° C. 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. Contact Mr Giorgio Salimbeni for every question
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