Bonheur du jour

Bonheur du jour is the name given to a type of lady’s writing desk, with the translation of the French meaning ‘daytime delight’.

Introduced by Parisian ‘marchand merciers’ , who were the interior designers and decorators of their day, they commissioned fancy furniture and fashionable novelties to complement their interior designs. This type of desk appeared about 1760 and became instantly fashionable.

The desk is light and graceful and designed to be moved around. Its specific distinguishing feature is a raised back which may have a little cabinet, or open shelves or drawers. The top surface is often surrounded with a chased and gilded bronze gallery and was used for displaying small ornaments. There is also usually a single drawer beneath the writing surface, fitted for storing writing supplies or toiletries.

The early examples were made in the style of the time: neoclassicism with slender cabriole legs. Straight tapering legs came into fashion after about 1775. Simon-Philippe Poirier, a marchand-mercier introduced Sevres porcelain mounted plaques on his bonheurs du jour around 1766. Some of the finer examples exhibit inlays of marquetry or panels of Oriental lacquer. They can be banded with exotic woods and with gilt-bronze mounts.

They started being made in London by the middle of the 1770s where they were just called a ‘lady’s writing desk’.