This superb fauteuil, with its frame carved with a remarkable continuous zig-zag motif interspersed with flowers, is decorated almost identically to a large set of seat furniture by Jean-Baptiste II Tilliard, originally in the collection of Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford (daughter of Charles, Lord Stuart de Rothesay), sold Christie's, London, 29 April 1954, lots 107-108. This set, covered in Beauvais tapestry and known as the Waterford suite, comprised four fauteuils, a bergère and a canapé, three pieces of which were stamped TILLIARD. A further closely-related pair of fauteuils was offered Sotheby’s, New York, 1 February 2013, lot 19. Other examples of this rare model include an unstamped fauteuil (one of a pair), attributed to Tilliard and preserved in a private collection in Paris, is of the same model but with small differences (illustrated B. G. B. Pallot, L'Art du Siège au XVIIIe Siècle en France, Paris, 1987, pp. 210-211); a matching canapé (one of a pair) from the same collection, stamped Tilliard and formerly in the Espirito Santo collection, is illustrated op. cit., p. 210; and chairs are illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Ebénistes du XVIIIe Siècle Français, Paris, 1963, pp. 256-257.

In 1764 Tilliard took over the workshop of his father, Jean-Baptiste I Tilliard, and continued to use his simple stamp 'TILLIARD'. His father ranked among the most celebrated menuisiers of the Louis XV period, and from the 1730s he bore the title Menuisier ordinaire du Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. Jean-Baptiste II also worked extensively for the Royal Court, particularly for Louis XVI's sisters, Mesdames Victoire and Elisabeth, and was able successfully to make the transition to the Louis XVI style, notable with a magnificent suite of furniture supplied in 1784 to the King of Sweden's apartment at Versailles.