19th Century French Ormolu Jewelry Box
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French ormolu jewellery box, stunning 19th century rectangular ormolu box with clear crystal lid decorated with central porcelain plaque depicting hand painted portrait of Saint Helena, beautiful buttoned pink silk interior and original key, width 30.5 cm
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- Ormolu - Ormolu was popular with French craftsmen in the 18th and 19th century for ornamental fittings for furniture, clocks and other decorative items. True ormolu is gilt bronze, that is bronze that has been coated with gold using a mercury amalgam. Due to the health risks associated with using mercury, this method of creating ormolu was discontinued in France in the 1830s. A substitute was developed consisting of about 75% copper and 25% zinc, however it was inferior to the bronze version. It was often lacquered to prevent it tarnishing.
This item has been included into following indexes:
- boxes, function - jewellery boxes, ceramic 112
- boxes, material or decoration