An Important Hand-Painted Grisaille Screen With a View of Constantinople, Manufactured By Joseph Dufour Et Cie, After Engravings From Comte Choiseul-Gouffier's 'Voyage Pittoresque Dans L'Empire Ottomane', France, Early 19th Century

consisting of six foldable panels, decorated with a group of wallpapers manufactured by Joseph Dufour Cie., depicting the city of Constantinople, on a base of painted marble with trompe-l'oeil architectural motifs of swans and archers' bows and arrows, the reverse painted with clouds

In fair condition, with wear and staining across the surface with minor tears on the outer edges of the panels and minor repatching, some paint losses and creasing, as viewed.
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Consisting of six grisaille (painted in tones of grey) panels, this screen belongs to a small group of wallpapers manufactured by Joseph Dufour depicting outdoor scenes of the Orient. This piece is particularly rare because of its depiction of Constantinople and offers an exceptional example of the European perception of the Ottoman capital in the early nineteenth century.

The company Joseph Dufour et Cie. was established and run by Joseph Dufour, who had been trained in the wallpaper industry and worked for some time in Lyon, the centre for textile and wallpaper production. One of the company's successes came from their scenic panoramic wallpapers illustrating Captain Cook's travels and titled: Sauvages de la Mer du Pacifique (Savages of the Pacific). This particular screen is decorated with Joseph Dufour's wallpaper depicting the city of Constantinople which captured the Europeans' imagination during the height of the Orientalist movement. 

Taken from Comte Choiseul-Gouffier's Voyage Pittoresque dans l'Empire Ottomane, this wallpaper illustrates the city of Constantinople in the background with figures in Ottoman dress going about their daily activities in the foreground. During Comte Choiseul-Gouffier's time as ambassador in Constantinople from 1784 to 1792, many European artists came to the city and depicted its picturesque vistas. Louis-François Cassas is one such artist who accompanied Compte Choiseul-Gouffier on his travels and created about three hundred illustrations, some for Choiseul-Gouffier's book. This wallpaper conveys the Turquerie mood of the time and as such would have been a very fashionable household item. 

See S. Germaner and Z. Inankur, Constantinople and the Orientalists, Istanbul, 2002, pp.25-26.