Desk (bonheur du jour)
Unknown
ca. 1780–90 · Wood, ivory, gilt bronze Carcass woods: mahogany and oak, with mahogany drawer linings Veneer woods include satinwood, mahogany, yewwood, tulipwood, rosewood, partridegewood (?), walnut, green-stained sycamore, and boxwood stringing · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
The idea for this type, with a raised partition in the back, was conceived in Franec about 1750. Extensively used by lady letterwriters, it received the coquettish name bonheur-du-jour. The plain, elegant lines of this example are set off by exceptionally fine, characteristically English marquetry.
- Artist
- Unknown
- Date
- ca. 1780–90
- Medium
- Wood, ivory, gilt bronze Carcass woods: mahogany and oak, with mahogany drawer linings Veneer woods include satinwood, mahogany, yewwood, tulipwood, rosewood, partridegewood (?), walnut, green-stained sycamore, and boxwood stringing
- Culture
- British
- Department
- European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Credit line
- From the Marion E. and Leonard A. Cohn Collection, Bequest of Marion E. Cohn, 1966
