Along with his father Nicolas Marchant, he was responsible for preparing the Histoire des plantes from 1667 begun under the aegis of the French Royal Academy of Sciences with the support of Claude Perrault.
Jean was the son of the botanist Nicolas Marchant (died 1678) and his career was closely linked to that of his father.
He then worked at the botanical garden of the Duke at Blois collaborating with Abel Brunyer, Robert Morison and Jean Laugier.
He was given the position of “concierge et directeur de la culture des plantes du Jardin Royal" from 1674.
In 1667, a project was begun by the Academy to produce the Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des plantes [fr] but when Nicolas died, Jean was elected as replacement to the Academy on 18 June 1678 and immediately continued to work on the project at the Jardin des Plantes where he also served as director.