Object Description
This is a elegant Victorian burr walnut and marquetry Bonheur Du Jour, or Ladies writing desk, circa 1860 in date.
The superstructure comprises a large central bay with a mirror inset door and a three quarter brass gallery above. The door opens to reveal a small cupboard with a central shelf, flanked by three short drawers on either side and one below.
It has a stunning gilt tooled chocolate brown leather inset writing surface with a full width frieze drawer below. The desk stands on beautiful cabriole legs and is further decorated with ormolu mounts and handles.
The handles are all original and it is complete with working locks and keys. This is an example of superb quality and design.
Condition:
In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned waxed and polished in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation
Dimensions in cm:
Height 125 x Width 105 x Depth 59
Dimensions in inches:
Height 4 feet, 1 inch x Width 3 foot, 5 inches x Depth 1 foot, 11 inches
A bonheur du jour –
(in French, bonheur-du-jour, meaning “daytime delight”) is a type of lady’s writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers about 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable.
The bonheur du jour is always very light and graceful, with a decorated back, since it often did not stand against the wall but was moved about the room. Its special characteristic is a raised back, which may form a little cabinet or a nest of drawers, or open shelves, which might be closed with atambour may simply be fitted with a mirror. The top, often surrounded with a chased and gilded bronze gallery, serves for placing small ornaments. Beneath the writing surface there is usually a single drawer, often neatly fitted for toiletries or writing supplies.
Early examples were raised on slender cabriole legs; under the influence of neoclassicism, examples made after about 1775 had straight, tapering legs. The marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirierhad had the idea of mounting bonheurs du jour with specially-made plaques of Sèvres porcelainthat that he commissioned and for which he had a monopoly; the earliest Sèvres-mounted bonheur du jours are datable from the marks under their plaques to 1766-67. The choicer examples of the time are inlaid with marquetry or panels of Oriental lacquer, banded with exotic woods, with gilt-bronze mounts.
By the mid-1770s the bonheur du jour was being made in London, where it was simply called a “lady’s writing-desk”.
Burr Walnut refers to the swirling figure present in nearly all walnut when cut and polished, and especially in the wood taken from the base of the tree where it joins the roots. However the true burr is a rare growth on the tree where hundreds of tiny branches have started to grow. Burr walnut produces some of the most complex and beautiful figuring you can find.
Ormolu (from French ‘or moulu’, signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as ‘gilt bronze’.
The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.
Our reference: A2983a