What is a bonheur du jour?

A small writing table with a raised back of little drawers and pigeonholes, made in France from the later 18th century as a lady's writing furniture and revived through the 19th. It is the dominant form under this heading. Between them, 'bonheur' and 'jour' touch a fifth of all titles, and the spelling varies from one listing to the next.

Which timbers turn up most often?

Walnut leads with 74 titles, mahogany follows at 63, then rosewood at 28, oak at 21, kingwood at 20 and satinwood at 10. Walnut is often specified further as burr walnut, which appears in 39 titles. The exotics gather at the top of the range while oak and pine sit at the bottom.

How are these pieces usually dated?

The dated field spans 1850 to 1930, and 140 of the 263 listings carry a clean year. Those years cluster mid-to-late, with the 1860s busiest at 49 listings and the 1880s next at 35. The rest are given only by era: 81 as 'Victorian' and 25 as '19th Century'. A third of the category is dated that way.

Are bureau bookcases common in this category?

They are a smaller branch. 'Bookcase' appears in 22 titles and 'cabinet' in 18, making up roughly one in eight pieces, including several cylinder bureau bookcases. The rest stand lower, either as fall-front bureaux and secretaire chests or as freestanding writing tables with a raised superstructure.

Why do so many titles use French words?

The French vocabulary is unusually strong for a British category. Bonheur du jour, bureau de dame, secretaire abattant and escritoire all appear, alongside 'french' in 37 titles. That reflects the forms themselves. The small ladies' writing desk and the fall-front secretaire came into English furniture from French models, and the names travelled with them.

What sits at the top of the range?

Ormolu-mounted kingwood pieces and bonheurs with porcelain plaques occupy the highest end, with marquetry and French styling doing much of the lifting below them. Carved oak and pine bureaux mark the other end.

Home > Bureau > Victorian Bureau > Page 5

Antique Victorian Bureau

99 items · page 5 of 7

← Page 5 of 7 →

Nineteenth-century writing furniture, from fall-front and cylinder bureaux to secretaire chests, though the form that dominates the heading is the small inlaid ladies' writing desk with a raised back of drawers.