Soft-paste porcelain, made from white clay and ground glass, was first produced in Europe during the late-sixteenth century at the Medici factory in Florence. Shortly thereafter, high quality soft-paste porcelain was being created at St. Cloud and about 1725 a factory was established in Chantilly, near Paris. Louis XV was the reigning monarch of France when Jean Gaillard de La Bouëxière owned the Grand Salon. Portrait busts of the king were popular, and this one is probably modeled after a bronze statue by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, the official sculptor of Louis XV. The king is shown in armor, and the base is decorated with a sculpted military trophy.