The Palace of Besiktas, Constantinople.

MELLING, Antoine Ignace "Desiné par Melling. Gravé à l'eau-forte par Mlle Levé . Terminé par Duparc." View of Besiktas Palace, Summer Dwelling of the Sultan. "Palais de Beschuk-Tasch, Séjour habitant du Grand Seigneur Pendant l'été." Paris, Strassburg & London Treuttel et Würtz 1819
Large copper engraving of the palace of Besiktas, on the shores of the Bosphorus, from Antoine Ignace Melling's " Voyage Pittoresque de Constantinople et des Rives du Bosphore."Plate 28 (written in pencil); black and white.
The plate shows palace of Besiktas, summer dwelling of Selim III. Melling oversaw the construction and decorations to extensions to the Palace. In the 19th century it was replaced by the Palace of Dolmabahçe. Dark impression; large margins; from an unfolded copy; minor chips, and tears to edges of page.

MELLING, Antoine Ignace (1763-1831).

Melling, who was trained in both architecture and painting, went to the city at the age of nineteen as a member of the Russian ambassador's retinue, and remained there for eighteen years. He became architect to Hatice Sultan, Selim III's sister, and the favour of the sultan himself eventually allowed him to study the interior of the Harem and other palaces. He returned to Paris in 1803, but despite producing a prospectus for his work soon afterwards, only began publication in 1809, finally completing it in 1819. The plates include some of the earliest interior views of the harem and the sultan's palaces, besides stunning delineations of the city's skylines, often with members of Ottoman society in the foreground.
Atabey: 798-799; Blackmer /Navari:1105; Brunet: III, 1591; Lipperheide:LB 41. 457 by 720mm (18 by 28¼ inches).   ref: 2386  €1750