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Fortunately there are a few easily recognizable gold tooled imprints surrounding the hand painted centerpiece with mica covering, otherwise it would be difficult to prove with certainty, the identity of the artist who decorated this binding. We see then a departure in style from the previous year with a minimum usage of the old favorite tools. There is here, the minutious use of some very small tools to embellish floral motifs created with inlaid leather rather than with entire larger tools. There is an enormous amount of work in this compared with the usual gold tooled dentelle, as well an open sense of creativity. No real predefined way to do things, there is symmetry but a lot of abstraction mixed in... almost like going into the artist's workshop and asking him what he is going to do today on this new binding he about to embark upon and him replying "well... I am really not sure." This kind of thing takes more time and it is hard to know when the piece is actually fininshed, or maybe you just might add a few more little details. This kind of binding is a world apart from the usual dentelle of the same period. Louis-François Lemonnier seems to have specialized in this type of thing and especially on the cream colored leathers. Probably the part of this binding that is unmistakably Dubuisson are the heraldic elements in which he was a true specialist. He has taken the various elements out of the arms of the King of Spain Fernando VI and added them as separate small cartouches in the corners as well as painting them into the background of the arms themselves in the centerpiece, each protected by a covering of mica. Again this takes an enormous amount of creativity and time. Today when we are so used to machine made articles we do not appreciate the amount of talent and time required to create such miniture hand painted one of a kind masterpieces.
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