A royal Louis XV red leather casket with the coat-of-arms of Mesdames, circa 1750

Delivered for one of Louis XV's daughters

Our casket is not signed, but among the great bookbinders who worked on this type of object is Antoine-Michel Padeloup (1685-1758). Heir to a veritable family dynasty of bookbinders established in Paris since the early 17th century, he was appointed Ordinary Bookbinder to the King in 1733. He notably produced a casket sold at Sotheby's bearing the arms of Madame Victoire (see Sotheby's Paris sale, November 5, 2014, lot 236). When he died in 1758, another bookbinder supplied many cases. Sometimes he even signed his caskets, such as the one sold for €44,200 at Christie's in Paris on  April 16, 2012, Niel collection, lot 50.

An article by P. Verlet ("Recherches sur quelques coffres en usage à la Cour de France à propos des deux coffres du Musée de Lisbonne" in Joâo Couto, In Memoriam, Lisbon, 1971, p. 241) tells us that travel caskets deemed too worn were then given to the entourage of Mesdames, which explains their presence in various private amateur collections and not only in public collections.