He worked on maps of the region, collected insects, and lectured on cartography for the Russian army in Vilnius.
His most famous map, Polonia secundum legitimas proiectionis stereographicae regulas, was destroyed in 1944 by a fire but reconstructions exist.
Perthées was born in Dresden in a family of French Huguenots, the illegitimate son of Herman Karl von Keyserling.
In 1764 he was appointed court geographer and map-maker to Stanisław August Poniatowski, colonel of the Polish royal army.
His collections included 2600 species and was acquired after his death by Vilnius University in 1823 but it was destroyed in 1943 during World War II.