The use of expensive Sèvres porcelain plaques in French furniture can be linked to the importance of the role of marchands-merciers in the 18th century. Defined by Diderot as “dealers of everything, makers of nothing”, these entrepreneurs, both designers and decorators, existed as the link between wealthy clients and the best ébénistes. Responsible for decorating the most beautiful residences in Paris, they drove and dictated fashion and themselves became the greatest customers of porcelain factories such as that of Sèvres, by integrating porcelain plaques into furniture. Thomas-Joachim Hebert, Simon Poirier and Dominique Daguerre were amongst the best-known marchands-merciers; and it was Daguerre who called on Weisweiler the most, commissioning him to make furniture with porcelain plaques such as the very similar model to this cabinet in the palace of Pavlovsk.

The restoration of the monarchy after Napoleon saw a return to fashion for this type of precious furniture, on both sides of the Channel. In line with their esteemed predecessors, artisans and dealers in Paris and London created cabinets such as this incorporating porcelain plaques, including Philippe Claude Maelrondt, Edward Holmes Baldock and Martin-Eloy Lignereux.

The French Rothschilds formed in the 19th century one of the greatest collections of fine and decorative arts in the world. Their wealth and collecting originated with Baron James Mayer de Rothschild (1792-1868), youngest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who established the Parisian branch of the banking dynasty when he founded De Rothschild Frères in 1817. His most celebrated residence, the château de Ferrières, was bought in 1829 and transformed by Joseph Paxton between 1853 and 1863 into a palace reminiscent of the Renaissance and the time of Louis XIV. His son Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1827-1905) inherited Ferrières as well as the Paris hôtel particulier at 2 rue Saint-Florentin which had originally been built for the duc de Vrillière and comte de Saint-Florentin and acquired by Baron James in 1857. Alphonse added to the collection with a particular focus on the decorative arts, as illustrated by the comptes courants, or accounts ledgers, of the French Rothschilds from 1870-1905. Baron Edouard de Rothschild (1868-1949) inherited the hôtel Saint-Florentin from his father as well as Ferrières and later kept a house on Avenue Foch. It has not been possible to trace the earlier provenance of this cabinet within the Rothschild family but it is possible that it was purchased by Baron James or Baron Alphonse, possibly for Ferrieres. A watercolour by Eugene Lami, circa 1865, survives of the Salon Louis XVI at Ferrières during the tenure of Baron James, showing what could be the present cabinet on a deeper stand with an undertier.