[PRESTAT.] [Portfolio in red morocco, tooled in gilt, the front cover stamped with the name of the owner: “M. Osmond”.]

[Stamped in gilt under fold-over flap:] “Prestat L’Ainé garnisseur du roi. Fecit. Parvis Notre-Dame No.15. A Paris.” [c.1780?] Red morocco portfolio (dimensions when closed approx. 40 x 30 x 5cm) tooled in gilt, the front with ornate lettering “M. Osmond”, exterior borders with three gilt rolls, floral cornerpieces, flat spine with compartments emulating a book, the fold-over flap closed with silver furniture (two ovals) the larger housing a lock (key lost), the top face of the smaller oval (with catch on underside) bearing engraved “MO” within a shield, the interior of flap richly gilt incorporating all-over gilt-tooled patterned section with repeated flower tool, the interior lined with blue silk, retaining original blue silk divider, fine condition. A fine example from the heyday of French eighteenth century bookbinding and stationery manufacture, this imposing large folio red morocco portfolio was made c.1780, the Parisian manufacturer identifying himself from the gilt stamp under the folding flap “Prestat L’Ainé garnisseur du roi. Fecit. Parvis Notre-Dame No.15. A Paris.” Inspecting this portfolio of the finest morocco, tooled in gilt with precision and delicacy, and lined with blue silk, it is not surprising that Monsieur Prestat held a royal warrant to King Louis XVI (1754-1793) for the production of stationery wares. His name and address are stamped inside the flap: “Prestat L’Ainé garnisseur du roi. Fecit. Parvis Notre-Dame No.15. A Paris.” The aristocratic owner of this portfolio is identified by the ornate, gold-tooled letting on the front: “M. Osmond”. A younger son of Louis Eustache d’Osmond, third comte de Boitron, Marquis d’Osmond (1720-1781), like his father, Marie Joseph Eustache d’Osmond (1756-1839) was a French officer who spent time on the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti. His father had commanded the militia of Fort Dauphin on the island. As part of his lengthy military career Marie served in 1796 as a Lieutenant Colonel of the Hulans Britanniques de Saint Domingue during the Haitian Revolution. The family of his mother, Marie Élisabeth Cavelier de la Garenne (1730-1807) owned extensive coffee plantations. This portfolio would have been used for storing documents, the tooling on the spine in imitation of a book suggesting that it could have been intended for upright storage in a bookcase. A virtuoso performance by a master stationer, this beautiful object evokes the extravagant finery handled by the French nobility in the last years of the Ancien Régime.…