Russian silver and works of art

Russian silver and works of art has a specific tradition through form and quality – typical are the contrasts that are found in the works of art trough different colors and techniques such as silver gilt surfaces decorated with Cloisonné or Niello. Cloisonné is a colorful technique where a design is formed by creating cells of very fine wire, making room for different colored enamel. Some of the finer silversmiths would, after the original filling and firing, apply other colors over the base colors to create a shaded effect. The more colors used the better skilled maker. Niello is the simplest form of enamel. It is prepared by heating together copper, silver, led and sulfur, when it cools of it is crushed in to a fine powder which makes the blackness when added in a moistened form to the engraved surface.

Among the selected pieces in the sale one can find several examples of high quality items with these typical Russian techniques.