The series of L'histoire du Roi de Chine was designed by Guy Vernasal (d. 1729), Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay (d.1715) and 'Baptiste', believed to be Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer (d. 1699) for the Beauvais tapestry factory probably between 1685 and 1690. The first series, consisting of nine or ten tapestries, was woven between 1684 and 1705 at Beauvais, when Philippe Behagle was in charge of the manufactory. He lists in a memorandum of tapestries made during his directorship a series 'Chinoise faict par quatre illustre peintre'. A further memorandum by Behagle lists the first set, woven with gold (rarely used by Beauvais) as 'vendu par M. d'Isrode à Monseigneur le duc du Maine'. In spite of M. d'Isrode, who had two further sets made almost certainly for resale, being mentioned as an intermediary, it is believed that the set, which was extraordinarily rich, was made for the duc du Maine.

The series shows the everyday life of the Chinese Emperor, believed to be Kangxi and his Empress, and includes scenes such as the Audience of the Emperor, the Emperor on a Journey, the Emperor Sailing and the Empress Sailing.

A tapestry of the Audience of the Emperor was sold anonymously, at Sotheby's New York, 19 November 1993, lot 78, and an example of the Collation from the Keck Collection was sold at Sotheby's New York, 5-6 December 1991, lot 22