Box with Rose fine Mosaic in Semiprecious Stones, Sterling Silver Salimbeni

Box with Rose fine Mosaic Squared in 925/1000 sterling silver gold plated with striped fire enamels on the sides and. On the upper frame, also with pure gold paillons. On the lid plate with fine mosaic of semiprecious stones executed with the technique of “Commesso fiorentino” born in the 1400s in the Opificio delle Pietre Dure founded by the Medici, in the pure Style of the Florentine Renaissance. Measures 11.7 x 11.7 x 3.6 cm. Silver weight gr. 680. Designed by Franco Salimbeni in 1968 and reproduced in a few examples with different subjects, in the Salimbeni factory with manual workmanship by skilful craftsmen with high thickness plate and large reinforcements suitable for sustaining numerous firings of enameling at great heat at about 800° C. About The Florentine Salesman’s technique The art of the Florentine Commesso was created by the Florentine Masters in the second half of the sixteenth century by inlaying marble and semi-precious stones in order to create objects and decorations. Taking inspiration precisely from the most ancient Opus Sectile technique of Roman origin with which the wall panels and decorative floors were built by exactly fitting stones and marbles of different colors, forming generally geometric designs. Many subjects have been reproduced with the Florentine Commesso: Naturalistic images of flowers and animals or fruits; But also landscapes and reproductions of famous paintings. The perfection and beauty of the results of this technique made it deserve the adjective of stone painting by exploiting the various natural shades of the different stones, high quality images were reproduced on tables, objects and furnishings. Ferdinando i Medici fell in love with it to the point of establishing a real art factory in Florence: The semi-precious stone factory. In it were gathered the master craftsmen active for the Florentine court in particular mosaicists and carvers of semi-precious stones. In the sumptuous decoration of the chapel of the princes of San Lorenzo (begun in 1604). The art of the Florentine salesman found its apex, even if the funeral tone of the Opera made him choose the more muted and dark colors with porphyry and granite. In the details, however, more colored semi-precious stones were used as well as mother-of-pearl, lapis lazuli and coral to reproduce the coats of arms of the 16 Tuscan cities Faithful to the Medici family. Our origin Our Florentine training could not but understand the art of the Florentine salesman but as you can easily understand the creations are really for a lucky few as they are capable of realization times in materials have very high costs but the results are incredible works of art.