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For your consideration is an exceptionally rare and historically significant original carte de visite photograph of Princess Marguerite dOrlans (18691940), boldly hand-signed and dated Marguerite dOrlans 87 in period ink. Measuring approximately 1.5 by 3 inches, the photograph dates precisely to 1887, when Marguerite was eighteen years old. A member of the House of Orlans and a granddaughter of King Louis-Philippe I of the French through both parental lines, she occupied a distinguished position within the exiled French royal dynasty and later became Duchess of Magenta through her marriage to Patrice de MacMahon.
The portrait was produced by the Riviera photographic studio of Mindel, whose ornate verso imprint records locations at Monte-Carlo and Menton, together with a Cannes branch. The narrow carte de visite format, albumen print, and decorative studio mount are characteristic of fashionable European resort photography of the 1880s. The front bears Marguerites autograph diagonally across the lower portion of the image, the accompanying date 87 providing unusually precise chronological documentation of the portrait during her youth and nearly a decade before her 1896 marriage.
The signature is executed in a fluid and confident hand, with natural variation in ink density and stroke pressure consistent with a manuscript inscription applied directly to the photographic surface. Signed juvenile portraits of members of the House of Orlans are considerably less frequently encountered than later formal photographs and correspondence, and the presence of both full name and date gives the present example particular documentary value. The photograph preserves Princess Marguerite at an early stage of her life, before her marriage into the MacMahon family and assumption of the title Duchess of Magenta.
Condition is consistent with age and historic handling. The albumen print exhibits fading, localized abrasion and emulsion loss affecting portions of the facial area, together with edge wear and mount toning; however, the autograph and date remain clearly legible and substantially unaffected. Despite these condition considerations, the piece remains a rare and historically specific signed portrait of a young member of the House of Orlans, combining precise 1887 dating, identifiable Riviera studio provenance, and an unusually early royal autograph.
