How is a geometry as complex as : http://cdn.dailypainters.com/paintings/sterling_silver_spoons_demitasse_teaspoons_antique_angels_flowers_whiting_lily_grande_baroque_watson_cherub_2a981b7a05b6d260fcb282a635f092de.jpg created? Is it sculpted or edited? How does one begin for achieving this?
i would sculpt it, but you can also polymodel it. you start with a kind of silhouette made in illustrater, photoshop or equailavant programs to use as a background reference image and model on top of it.
if you want to model it, learn how subsurface modelling works, you need to have a solid understanding of topology, edgeloops, and supporting edges to pull it off.
1D_Inc has a lot of YouTube time lapse videos that show his[?] methods for modeling that sort of thing. https://www.youtube.com/user/1DInciner/videos
That guy has a seriously good eye for quads, and for solving degenerated quads at that.
for that kind of decoration
i would use the image to create a depth map and use that for a displacement mod and / or as base to make a normal map
Also sculpt/retopo!
They aren’t one object as far as i can tell, the details look like they were created separately and then textures were used to blend them in to the base mesh.
I’d sculpt something like that personally. I’d probably find it a bit too fiddly to manage with modelling. Mostly because of the way the decoration melds into the shape. Either way, it would still need focus and patience.
try it. it wont work great. at all.
Resuming all that was said here:
1- Using 1D_Inc method will give you a very good mesh in the end. It’s straight forward, but it requires a good eye, and a bit of practice.
2- Sculpt and retopo is a more artist friendly, but it requires that you do two meshes (the sculpted high resolution, and a final one on the top of the first with the help of shrinkwrap/snapping)
3- Similar to the Sculpt/Retopo, you can bake a displacement map. (Note that you need to be in the BlenderInternal to use the displacement bake - example video)
4- Similar to 3, if you don’t need all the detail, you can just bake the normal map.
again, displacement map wont work in this case due to all the edges. you will need an EXTREMELY high basemesh in order for the displacement to work. in fact, a high poly sculpt will even be lower than using displacement. Displacement is used for terrain, or rough areas such as rocks, plants, dirt, or other areas where imperfections dont matter. in this case you need clean smooth edges.
DISPLACEMENT WONT WORK!
@finalbarrage, don’t be so pessimist :no:
here’s a quick test:
the wires:
Of course, the lowres mesh could have some edgeloops to adapt better to the displacement topology, but for a 10minute work… 
Note: I’m using the experimental displacement from cycles, but with some better topology, the displacement modifier can also work.
and what is the polycount on the displaced model? ey? send me the blend file.
also, that looks horrible like a rock, so the imperfections wont show as well.
you run into a TON of problems if you use displacement, and in order for it to work you have to go to VERY high polycounts…
the three images shows the sculpt, a displacement with the same polycount as the sculpt, and one that shows aproxematly how high you have to go to get something that looks remotely as good.
DISPLACEMENT IS FOR UNIFORM SURFACES! not metals!
i rest my case.
It seems to me that making those complex topologies with all quads is a hard and often unnecessary work for something that does not need to be animated. There has to be a way to do it without so much effort 
If displace map is not satisfied, maybe just normal map as JohnVV had said:
http://pasteall.org/blend/index.php?id=44264
I have applied Gaussian Blur in GIMP on the original map to soften some imperfections (This can also be applied to displacement maps).
Edit:
Sorry, I had left forgotten a subsurf modifier on the plane. Edited.
Myself, I’m kinda old-school. Whether you scratch model it or sculpt/displace and retopo later, I personally don’t believe it’s done right if the mesh isn’t optimized. 3D is all about faking it, but a decent wire render shows you faked it nicely. Just sayin.
I’ve closed blender without save, but the displaced mesh had about 80k vertices.
Ok, ok! 
I know it looks horrible, it was just a small test.
Displacement in Cycles is still far from perfect, and without XYZ displacement, there’s not much we can do. That’s why my first point was about using 1D_Inc method, which I still think it’s the best approach (even if it’s done over a sculpted geometry, thought 1D_Inc does it from scratch).
Another problem with blender, is that there isn’t a good, straightforward workflow to produce good displacement maps.
With some work (too much for a productive work), displacement can work:
Of course, for a new user or even for seasoned ones, dealing with displacements in XYZ formats in Blender is a pain!! It’s not a one-click option, and takes so much time as modeling it poly by poly.
now try that using the crease brush instead… ur painting with a smooth brush. Displacement wont work well with sharp edges, as demonstrated.
and that is what he wants to achieve. you cant use displacement in this case. baking a normal map, sure. but not displacement.
bump and Nor map are for small details only !
displace maps need large amount of verts to get nice effects
so best way I think is with sculpt and then try to do a retopo to minimize verts count
and good luck
also depends how close you need to make shots ?
happy bl