In 2008, the Guerrand-Hermès family allowed themselves to be tempted by an 18th-century chair stamped Georges Jacob that had once furnished one of Marie-Antoinette's Versailles chambers, selling for €530,000 at the Paris auction house Drouot. Its companion piece, offered by Sotheby's in 2011, was acquired by the Château de Versailles for €420,000. At the same time, the institution's collection was enriched by a pair of Louis Delanois-stamped chairs from Madame du Barry's drawing room, bought for €840,000, followed by a carved and gilded beechwood armchair (€247,840), stamped Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené, that once belonged to Madame Elisabeth, sister of King Louis XVI, and finally a pair of gilded wood "ployants" (stools) stamped Nicolas-Quinibert Foliot, reputedly delivered to Louise-Elisabeth de Parme, daughter of King Louis XV, that went under the hammer for €380,000.
In 2015, the brother of the emir of Qatar, Prince Al Thani, then owner of the Hôtel Lambert on Paris's Ile Saint-Louis, set his sights on a pair of Louis XVI chairs, stamped Foliot, that had graced Marie-Antoinette's Belvédère pavilion. Classified as a "national treasure," they were described as "the most expensive furniture made for the queen." The prince paid €2 million to become the owner.
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