This statuette group with an ancient mythology theme, Venus Crowning Beauty, was part of a larger centrepiece the French royal couple gave to Gustav III. Queen Marie-Antoinette had ordered the group for herself in 1784, but forwent it for the visiting Swedish king, who arrived at short notice in the summer of the same year. This and other groups of bisque figures were the work of Louis-Simon Boizot, who ran the Sèvres sculpture workshop 1773-1800.