Bonheur du jour

A bonheur du jour (in French, bonheur-du-jour, meaning "daytime delight") is a type of lady's writing desk.

[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.

The marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier had the idea of mounting bonheurs du jour with specially-made plaques of Sèvres porcelain that he commissioned and for which he had a monopoly; the earliest Sèvres-mounted bonheurs du jour are datable from the marks under their plaques to 1766-67 (illus.).

[3] Other choice examples of the time are inlaid with marquetry or panels of Oriental lacquer,[2] banded with exotic woods, with gilt-bronze mounts.