FIRMAN CONFÉRÉ AU COMTE ÉMILE DESAGES (D.1851) PAR LE SULTAN MAHMUD II (R.1808-1839)

TURKEY, ISTANBUL, OTTOMAN ART, DATED: END OF SAFAR 1254 H./AROUND MAY 20, 1838 Ottoman Turkish manuscript on paper, 7 ll. per page, in diwani, black ink, surmounted by a gold tughra. Accompanied by its French translation by Joseph-Marie Jouannin (1783-1844), dated the same year. In this text, Émile Desages is awarded a medal (mücevher nisan). He is described as a Desas, director of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having previously held the position of First Secretary at the French Embassy in Constantinople. Size: 32 x 51 cm. Comtesse Desages, wife of Charles Desages, brother of Émile Desages. Baron Arthur Nedjma Chassériau (1850, Algiers-1934, Paris), acquired at the public sale of the Countess Desages collection: B. LASQUIN, Bon mobilier (...), June 20, 1895, Hôtel Drouot, Paris. Then by descent. Count Émile Desages (1793, Paris-1851) was the son of Thomas Desages and Anne-Marie Matheron. In 1826, he was appointed First Secretary to the French Embassy at the Grand Porte, before becoming Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Councilor in Extraordinary Service at the Conseil d'État during the July Monarchy (1830-1848). Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856), a friend of the Count, painted a bust of him in 1848. Joseph-Marie Jouannin (1783-1844) was an interpreter and teacher of oriental languages. He worked as a diplomatic interpreter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1830s. The document has been folded for a long time and therefore bears traces of folds and associated tears, as well as holes, stumps and minor stains. The four French documents are in overall good condition, with minor staining and soiling as observed. The document had been folded for a long time and thus bears traces of folds and associated tears and minor holes, strains and smudges. The four documents in French are overall in good condition, with minor spots and smudges, as viewed.