Small writing table with superstructure, often called a bonheur du jour, with marquetry of Chinese pots, writing equipment and tea bowls.

Small writing table with superstructure, often called a <i>bonheur du jour</i>, with marquetry of Chinese pots, writing equipment and tea bowls. Veneered in tulipwood on oak, with marquetry in pearwood, satinwood and other woods.

Design
The writing table is raised on thin cabriole legs, joined by a low, shaped shelf. The frieze section contains one long drawer and is set with a recessed panel enclosing a continuous guilloche mount in lacquered or gilt brass. Above this, at the back of the table surface sits a raised storage section, consisting of two cupboards divided by a drawer beneath a recessed space. The two cupboards open onto a plain interior divided by a shelf, and with a shallow drawer at the bottom of each. All the surfaces are ornamented in marquetry, with panels showing flowers in vases, still lives of fruit with vases of flowers and tea wares, all imitative of Chinese style. This decoration continues on the back of the table, which was clearly designed to be free-standing in a room. On this surface, the original colours of the marquetry survive better than on the front and sides. The table is mounted in lacquered or gilded brass at the feet and on the knees of the legs, and on the frieze, The low shelf and the top of the storage section are set wtih pierced galleries of brass, in Chinese style.

Bequeathed by John Jones

In the collection of John Jones, 95 Piccadilly, by 1882, when it was bequeathed to the South Kensington Museum, forerunner of the V&A. The earlier history of the table has not been traced.
Such marquetry in the Chinese style is also associated with the maker Charles Topino (1742-1803). See a bonheur du jour in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, inv. no. 2014.64, which is stamped by Topino. His marquetry, however, appears to use slightly smaller individual motifs, but it is possible that there was some relationship between him and RVLC, as was not unusual in 18th-century Paris, when some makers acted as retailers as much as makers.

The popularity of this design is illustrated by the many related pieces that are in other collections or have appeared on the market.Like several pieces in the Jones Collection, this piece was copied by cabinet-makers in the late-19th and early 20th centuries, particularly after measured drawings of it were published by Paulson Townsend in 1899 (see references below). A version of it was sold at Sotheby's in about 1967 (reference incomplete). A version was made by René L'Excellent, sold by Sotheby's New York, 22 April 2010, lot 385. This followed the form closely but there were differences in the marquetry, although the style was similar. It is possible that this drew on the drawings by Paulson Townsend.

Related pieces
A closely similar piece, but with different marquetry (though in the same taste) was sold at Christie's, London, 31 May 1934, lot 112. That piece, which had the same mounts as the V&A piece, was stamped RVLC.

Another, with motifs of similar character and scale, stamped RVLC, was sold by Sotheby's, 24 November 1972, lot 109. The entry refers to anothe sold at Sotheby's, 26 November 1971 and another very similar illustrated in Connaissance des Arts, September 1957. The table sold in November 1972 was sold again by Christie's, London, 2 December 1998, lot 147, where further versions of the model are listed.

A writing table of overall similar form (but without the low shelf and with a superstructure of drawers only), but with similarly themed decoration (though smaller in scale) is in the collections of the Residenz in Munich (see Brigitte Lange and Hans Ottomeyer: Die Möbel der Residenz München. I. Die französischen Möbel des 18. Jahrhunderts (Munich: Prestel, 1995), no. 36, pp. 160-163. That piece is stamped by RVLC.

In the library of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris there is a photograph of a table of the same form as the V&A piece, stamped by the maker H. Hansen. This was sold in Paris on 21 November 1947. This is probably the piece illustrated in Jean Nicolay, L'Art et la Manière des Maître Ébénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle (Paris, 1956), 2 vols. (this reference lacks page referenc). There are differences in the marquetry, and the frieze mount is replaced on the Hansen piece by marquetry of Vitruvian scrolls. The existence of this piece may be further evidence of the buying and selling of pieces between workshops

A bonheur du jour of similar form and marquetry (but with heavy, oval mounts to the the marquetry on the doors to either side of the superstructure, is illustrated in Seymour de Ricci, Louis XVI Furniture, (Stuttgart, Julius Hoffmann, n.d., 1930s ?), p. 135. It is said to have come from Schloss Oberkirch in Alsace. Another, with similar oval mounts,, is illustrated in Les Ébànistes du XVIIIe Siècle Français, Collections Grande Artisans d'Autrefois, p. 266. Oval medallion mounts of similar form are found on pieces stamped FOULLET.

The marquetry on this piece is of a type found also on pieces by René Dubois, has traditionally been thought to be based on motifs taken from Coromandel screens. In 2022 Kee Il Choi Jr published an article (see refs. below) on wenfangtu (a type of Chinese woodblock print) that is a more likely source for the images used in such marquetry. The V&A piece is illustrated on pp. 132-133, figs. 5-8.

This type of ladies’ writing desk, known as a bonheur du jour, was introduced in Paris from the 1760s by the marchands-merciers, who acted in a dual capacity as interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable, decorative commodities.

Bonheurs du jour quickly became extremely fashionable among the polite classes.
This example bears all the qualities of its type: a light and graceful construction, raised back which forms either a set of drawers, shelves, or in this case two cupboards separated by a drawer, and a decorated back, since the desks rarely stood against a wall and were often moved about the room. The top, which is decorated with an ormolu Chinese fretted three-quarter gallery, was used for displaying ornaments, while the single drawer below was used for storing writing materials or toiletries.
The slender, cabriole legs on this desk indicate that it was made in the period before 1775. Subsequently, the influence of neoclassicism meant that those made after 1775 tended to have straight, tapering legs.

1116:1 to 5-1882