Tesla is AC, this is DC.Be interesting to know what type of equipment or circuit this is. My guess is it's Tesla coil related.
It will be difficult dropping that down since high megohm resistors are expensive and the resultant 48V would only be able to supply picoamps or you'd upset the divider.
Personally I'd scour eBay for a HV probe that's made to attach to a Fluke meter, or better yet an old KV probe used in the old TV repair days. This would provide you with, or with the start of, an accurate divider network.
Oh, and if there is any sort of frequency to it a capacitive divider could be made but 12 KV caps are even more expensive than high meg resistors.