There has been an ongoing discussion whether Daumier had used paper with watermarks for his drawings. Some authors pointed out that high quality paper would have been too expensive for him. For his numerous sketches Daumier mainly used “scrap paper or left-overs”.
In connection with the research done on Daumier’s drawings, the Daumier-Register has identified the following paper, used by Daumier in his oeuvre, which carried a watermark:
DR11368 BLAUW
DR 11246 DELIST
DR 11223 PL BAS
DR 11176 C.R. (beneath a crown)
DR 11143 AMERICOURT FRERES
DR 10836 J. WHATMAN Turquey Mills1869
DR 10719 HUDELI (HUDELIST?)
DR 10641 HALLINES, HP in crest
DR 10617 (HAL) LINES
DR 10601 H.P. (Hallines)
DR 10553 HALLINES, EP
DR 10486 HUDELIST
DR 10328 HL
DR 10305 …DELIST…
There surely exist more than these 14 drawings that carry a watermark, but these have not yet been identified. Taking into account that the Daumier Register by now found more than 1000 additional drawings compared to the existing work catalogues, the number of those carrying a watermark still seems to be negligible.