Table Box Portrait Of Empress Eugenia De Montijo Miniature Salimbeni

More than a kilo of sterling silver was needed to create this stunning rectangular tabletop box. Worked with the very complicated guilloche technique, it was then enamelled at high heat with translucent enamel to make the superb workmanship shine through.The fine rectangular miniature cm. 7.5 x 10.7 on vegetable ivory. The small masterpiece handmade by the painter Anna Maria Manfriani reproduces the famous portrait of Empress Eugenia de Montijo, by the painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The unenamelled sterling silver parts were then gilded with a 24-carat galvanic bath.In Art Nouveau style, with a “lost” zip, i.e. semi-invisible. Dimensions cm. 15 x 18 x 3.5. Weight gr. 1095. Designed by Giorgio Salimbeni in 1980 and manufactured in Florence at the Salimbeni company headquarters with completely manual execution by artisan artists with a very thick slab and large reinforcements suitable for supporting numerous enamelling firings at around 800° Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick, 19th Countess of Teba, 16th Marquise of Ardales known as Eugénie de Montijo was Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until the fall of the Emperor on 4 September 1870. From July 28 to September 4, 1870, he was the de facto head of state of France.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 exclusive Table Box include:manufacturer's mark: 391FImetal mark fineness:925