The alleghorical theme of the Four Seasons has long been popular and it is therefore often difficult to trace the exact source of the design. However, the specific portrayal of the traditional attributes of each season relates this set to the four marble figures executed by François Coudray for the Grosser Garten in Dresden, which was engraved by Lindemann (F. Souchal, French Sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Paris, p.129), as well as to the set of four at Versailles, which was published by Thomassin in his Recueil des figures, groupes, thermes, fontaines, vases, statues et autres ornamens de Versailles of 1695.

A closely related set of early Louis XV candlesticks was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 26 June 1987, lot 25 (£31,900).