Antique French Louis XVI Desk Cabinet Fine Kingwood Parquetry

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Antique Louis XVI style bonheur du jour desk. Fine kingwood parquetry inlay. Gilt bronze mounts. Figured marble top. Circa 1850. … Read more Antique Louis XVI style bonheur du jour desk. Fine kingwood parquetry inlay. Gilt bronze mounts. Figured marble top. Circa 1850. Please, contact Joseph Dasta Antiques for shipping options.

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.[1] The bonheur du jour is always very light and graceful,[2] with a decorated back, since it often did not stand against the wall (meuble meublant) but was moved about the room (meuble volant); 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 a tambour , or 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,[2] 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. See less