Bonheur du jour
A bonheur-du-jour ( French for "luck of the day" ) is a small, graceful ladies' desk that was introduced by the Parisian Marchand-Merciers in the 1760s and became one of the most popular pieces of furniture of the 18th century in France . The table had a low back attachment with open or closed shelves and drawers. The upper end was sometimes formed by a decorative openwork gallery made of brass or gold bronze, open to the front . Luxuriously furnished specimens could be made with elaborate inlays and veneers as well as parts from Sèvres- Porcelain be decorated.
The early specimens were oval and had slender, curved legs. Later, the stricter, straight lines of the Louis seize style predominated, and the tabletops were rectangular. Some bonheurs-du-jour had accessories for applying make-up and hairdressing. A side table with a flat drawer was often used to enlarge the work surface.
The bonheur du jour was the ladies' counterpart to the secretary .
literature
- Encyclopædia Britannica: Britannica CD 99 Multimedia Edition
- Renate Dolz: Furniture Stylistics . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-453-13046-4 , p. 253.
