This case takes the form of the vessel for which it was made, an Heliotrope cup with two gold masks (O53). Case lined externally in leather with gilt iron decoration of fleurs-de-lys, and internally with red velvet. Internally, it is lined with red velvet in good condition, and has some small pads of crimson silk to preserve the delicate chased masks with rings in their mouths, situated at the ends of the vessel. The decoration, on good quality morocco leather, consists of a “semis” or “seedbed” of fleurs-de-lys in very closely spaced lines forming a grid, in the style of certain bookbinding designs of the period of Charles IX of France (1550-1574).

Arbeteta Mira, Letizia, El tesoro del Delfín: alhajas de Felipe V recibidas por herencia de su padre Luis, Gran Delfín de Francia, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2001, p.85-89; 300