"Il n'y a pas de feu sans fumée".

Copperplate, 38 x 28 cm (picture: 33 x 24,7 cm), signed below "Dessiné par C.le Vernet / Gravé par Debucour [sic]", mention "Déposé à la D[irecti]on" (some sm. margin. stains).

Nice plate illustrating a picturesque scene in the lively streets of Paris, made for the "Collection de costumes dessinés d'après nature par Carle Vernet". Beautiful engraving by the Parisian artist Debucourt (1755-1832), showing a man lighting his pipe in front of a trestle table on which are placed loaves of bread and wine bottles. On the other side, a woman seated on a bench lifts her skirts to stir embers in an earthen pot placed between her legs. She leans against a wall bearing the inscription "Colle de poisson préparée pour clarifier les vins blancs".
Ref. British Museum 1982,U.1726 (issue reproduced online).
Prov. "Mamet S.r / Anc[ien]ne maison Molhérat / 2bis imp[asse] Lebouis Paris" (engr. on the back).