[IER EMPIRE]. LAVALETTE (Antoine Marie CHAMANS, comte de). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "Lavalette", embellished with small drawings, addressed to a "Mademoiselle". Two ½ pages on double ff. (22 X 17 cm). "I showed your letter to Madame Mollin Mademoiselle. She finds the design charming, but she didn't understand a word of it. We found it [?] very pretty, but we thought you were doing great honor to the great Seigneur De Sade [etc.]. Comte de LAVALETTE (1769-1830), French officer and senior civil servant, was appointed aide-de-camp to General Bonaparte after the Battle of Arcole (1796), and was elevated to the rank of Comte d'Empire in 1808. Imprisoned in 1815 for conspiracy against the state, he escaped on the eve of his execution with the help of his wife.

Composed of several subsidiaries, the Drouot Group is a major player in the art market. Hôtel Drouot, located in the heart of Paris, has been the world's largest public auction center since 1852. 15 salerooms are available to more than 70 auction houses. The emulation generated by an annual offer of 230,000 artworks from 21 major specialities - from Antiquity to street art - attracts some 3,000 visitors every day. The Group's digital platform, Drouot.com, offers digital sales - Live auctions (live broadcasting and participation in auctions), Online-only auctions (dematerialised auctions) and Buy Now sales (sales of lots at fixed prices). Nearly 2 million items are offered annually by 600 auction houses. Auction news is reported every week in La Gazette Drouot, the leading weekly magazine for the art market and culture published by Auctionspress.