Though beginning his career as a writer of comedies, Corneille (d. 1684), was best known as a master dramatist. Despite its popularity among audiences, his tragically-spun tale of a Spanish warrior (Le Cid, 1636) was denounced by the monarchy but has since been considered the playwright's chef d'oeuvre.

This bust is after a Sèvres figures probably modeled by Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724-1805). Bachelier, who began working at Sèvres in 1748, was the Art Director from 1751-93, in charge of painting as well as being in charge of modelling from 1753-57 and again from 1766-74, after Falconet's departure to Russia.

Between 1769 and 1780, Sèvres produced a series of small statuettes formed as term figures, as well as series such as the Four Seasons. All of these have very similar bases to the present model (see E. Bourgeois and G. Lechevalier-Chevignard, Le Biscuit de Sèvres: recueil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle, plates 17 and 18. Similar models of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, were sold from the Estate of Mrs. Charles Engelhard, Christie's, New York, 18 March, 2005, lot 296. Another was sold from the René Fribourg Collection, Sotheby's London, 28 June 1963, lot 156 and is presently in a New York private collection.