MAXIMILIEN DE GOLDSCHMIDT-ROTHSCHILD (1843-1940) Beige grained leather, gilt-bronze mounted, in folio format, desk blotter bearing the Goldschmidt family coat of arms. The first plate is decorated in bronze and polychrome enamel with foliage and floral scrolls, imitation ruby and lapis lazuli glass cabochons at the corners, and centered with the Goldschmidt family coat of arms, accompanied by their motto "Super Omnia Veritas" in a neo-Renaissant mascaron and sphinx motif; The interior, upholstered in blue silk satin, would originally have contained the letters patent. With gold-thread passementerie tassels. Small enamel chips. Austria Hungary, probably Vienna, or Prussia, late 19th century. H.: 39.5 - L.: 31 cm. History : Maximilian Benedikt Hayum Goldschmidt, born June 20, 1843 in Frankfurt and died in the same city February 18, 1940, ennobled von Goldschmidt-Rothschild in 1903, and Freiherr von Goldschmidt-Rothschild from 1907, was a German banker and patron of the arts. In 1862, he joined his father's bank B.H. Goldschmidt Benedikt Hayum Goldschmidt (1798-1873) in Frankfurt, which he ran with his brother Adolf Benedict Hayum Goldschmidt (1838-1918) until 1900. After that, the brothers decided to give up banking and leave Frankfurt. While Adolphe moved first to Paris, then to London, Maximilien went to Berlin. His marriage to the Rothschild heiress Minna Karoline Freiin von Rothschild (1857-1905) in 1878, he was considered the wealthiest member of the wealthiest family in the German Empire. After the death of Maximilian's father-in-law, Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild (1828-1901), the last male Rothschild in Frankfurt, Maximilian sought to take over the title of Freiherr and add his wife's name to the family name. In 1903, under the name Goldschmidt-Rothschild, he was elevated first to Prussian nobility, then, in 1907, to Prussian baron by birthright and linked to the Fideikommisslehen Niederweide (Polish: Wroniawy) property near Wollstein in the Bomst district (Posen province).