The crowned CR mark refers to an inventory of the properties of the Dukes of Bourbon-Parma undertaken around 1856, following the assassination of Duke Carlo III in 1854. Their primary residences were the Palazzo Ducale in Parma and the summer palace Reggia di Colorno. The latter had been refurbished in the French taste in the mid-18th century by Louise Elisabeth, Madame Infante, daughter of King Louis XV of France and wife of the Infante Philip, younger son of King Philip V of Spain, who had inherited the Duchy of Parma via his mother in 1748 following the extinction of the Farnese line. Following the absorption of the Du♐chy of Parma into the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, the Ducal palace🍸s and their contents became royal property of the new House of Savoy, and many items were then transferred to other residences in Turin and Genoa or eventually sold.

Though slightly different in design these two voyeuses appear to have been used as a pair. A giltwood chaise de commodité stamped by Boulard with identical guilloche carving on the seat rail and the same tapering fluted legs with chandelles as on one of the offered voyeuses was in the collections of the Baron de Redé and Baron Guy de Rothschild, sold Sotheby's Monaco 25-26 May 1975, lot 294. An identical example to this chair is illustrated in M. Jarry, Le Siège français (Fribourg 1973), fig.186. Another extremely similar chair is in the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi outside Turin, illustrated in R. Antonetto, Minusieri ed ebanisti del piemonte (Turin 1985), p.221 fig.312; this version has acanthus carved legs identical to those of the other offered voyeuse.

Interestingly, lot 287 of the Baron de Redé and Guy de Rothschild sale was a suite of two carved and giltwood bergères en gondole and two chaises en gondole of a similar character, one chair of which was stamped Boulard. These were from a larger set of which other related examples have appeared on the market, including a pair of bergères en gondole stamped Bauve sold Christie's Monaco 15 June 1996, lot 177, and a further very similar pair by Boulard illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le mobilier français du XVIII siècle (Paris 2002), p.114 fig.b. This ensemble was traditionally associated without evidence to Marie-Antoinette's box at the theatre of Versailles, and it has also been suggested some of the group may be of North Italian manufacture. There was a precedent both in Parma and Turin for seat furniture to be acquired from Parisian ateliers and copied by local menuisiers. More rec🎐ently, a pair of fauteuils from the set stamped Bauve was sold Paris Drouot, Aguttes, 11 June 2012, lot 148, where the provenance was given as the Marquis Voyer d'Argenson at the Hôtel de Voyer, Paris.