Charles PERCIER (1764-1838) Original watercolor... Lot 244

Charles PERCIER (1764-1838) Original watercolor and preparatory work for the large basin for the Tuileries palace, mounted in 1810 by Jacob-Desmalter, the Cartellieret bronzes preserved today at the Grand Trianon, watercolor, wash, on line in graphite and framed by a double net in Indian ink Annotation in graphite at the height of the entablature on the left: 6 000 # malachite and 3 chimeras. At the bottom, in graphite 6 000 francs, Malachite 3 chimères On a sheet of paper with the J. Whatman 1804 Empire period filigram (folded in the middle widthwise, slightly crumpled sheet) The sheet: 45.5 x 30 cm Lateral margins of 1, 3 cm or 1.5 cm as double filet Top margin same as the lateral margins Bottom margin: 0.8 and 1 cm Provenance: Collection Jacob-Desmalter and by descent Fuel collection, then remained in his descendants. After Tilsit's interview in June 1807, Napoleon I and Tsar Alexander I exchanged gifts and the Tsar offered malachites, these precious minerals extracted from Siberian quarries. On 24 June 1808 Pierre Léonard Fontaine noted in his diary1 : "the Emperor of Russia sent the Emperor of the French four carriages loaded with boxes containing two medium-size malachite tables, one also made of malachite in the shape of a cup, another square vase with its jasper base and two sections of columns of coins to be used as the tables and the vase. The whole was disbursed and deposited in the Pavillon de Flore. These objects may be precious as material but they will have to be assembled and decorated with very rich bronzes to give them a price." Charles Percier executed two drawings of library bases, the basin of which this one and the candelabras that Jacob-Desmalter will have to execute to highlight them. The malachites were exhibited in the Salon de la Paix at the Tuileries Palace in October 1808. On 12 January 1809, the malachites were handed over to FHG Jacob-Desmalter2. A submission by FHG Jacob-Desmalter from January 18093 paid on 18 September 1810 mention