A Louis XVI style rosewood and marquetry bonheur du jour, later…
click the photo to enlarge
A Louis XVI style rosewood and marquetry bonheur du jour, later 19th century, with label of Ecole Blanc, Rue Paradis Marseilles, of elegant proportions, the writing desk with a central glazed velvet lined cupboard flanked by open compartments, the hinged top with quarter veneer panelling and floral marquetry opening to a lined writing plane, with a drawer below and on raised tapering fluted legs united by a curved 'X' form stretcher. Height 121 cm. Width 90 cm. Depth 50 cm

You must be a subscriber, and be logged in to view price and dealer details.

Subscribe Now to view actual auction price for this item

When you subscribe, you have the option of setting the currency in which to display prices to $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

This item has been sold, and the description, image and price are for reference purposes only.
  • Veneers - Veneers are thin sheets of well-figured timber that are glued under pressure to the surface of a cheaper timber for decorative effect, and then used in the making of carcase furniture.

    Early veneers were saw-cut so were relatively thick, (up to 2 mm) but is was realised that saw cutting was wasteful, as timber to the equivilent of the thickness of the saw was lot on each cut.

    A more efficient method was devised to slice the timber, either horizontally with a knife, or in a rotary lathe.

    Flame veneer, commonly found in mahogany or cedar furniture, is cut from the junction of the branches and main trunk. So-called fiddleback veneers, where the grain is crossed by a series of pronounced darker lines, is usually cut from the outer sections of the tree trunk.

    During the 17th and 18th centuries, and in much of the walnut marquetry furniture made during the latter part of the 19th century, the veneer was laid in quarters, each of the same grain, so that one half of the surface was the mirror image of the other.

    The use of veneer allows many other decorative effects to be employed, including stringing, feather banding, cross banding, and inlaid decorative panels in the piece. The carcase over which veneer is laid is usually of cheaper timber such as pine, oak or, sometimes in Australia during the first half of the 19th century, red cedar.

    The important thing to remember about veneers is that prior to about 1850 they were cut by hand, and were consequently quite thick - ranging up to about 2mm deep.

    From the mid-19th century veneers were cut by machines and were almost wafer-thin. This is a critical point when trying to judge the approximate age of veneered furniture.
  • Fluting - A form of decoration found on many pieces of furniture, as well as ceramics, silver and clocks, in which round-bottomed grooves, of varying width and depth, are let into columns, pilasters, legs. As a general rule, flutes are cut in the vertical, though they may follow a turned leg in a spiral pattern. In cross-section, they may be described as a series of 'U' shapes, rising and narrowing at each end of the groove. Fluting is the opposite of reeding, with which fluting is often associated.
  • Proportions - Essentially, the size of the various parts of a piece of furniture in relation to the whole. Ideally, the proportions should be pleasing to the eye appearing neither top-heavy nor unbalanced and convenient for ordinary use.
  • Stretcher - A horizontal rail which connects the legs of stools, chairs, tables and stands, to provide stabilisation of the legs. A stretcher table is any table with a stretcher base. The term is usually applied to substantial farmhouse tables, although many cabinetmaker's pieces, such as sofa tables, also have turned stretchers.
  • Rosewood - A dense timber that varies in shade to very light brown to almost black. When rosewood is cut and sanded the colour of the timber will turn black, and after polishing and exposure to daylight, the surface will gradually lighten over time to light brown with black streaks.

    The name comes from the odour emanating from the timber when it is planed, sanded or cut.

    Rosewood was very popular for use in Victorian furniture in the second half of the 19th century, and at that time most of the rosewood was imported from Brazil. However it also grows in India and Indonesia.

    It is used in the sold for chairs and table legs, but for carcase furniture such as side cabinets and bookcases, and for table tops it is always used as a veneer.
  • Marquetry - In marquetry inlay, contrasting woods, and other materials such as ivory, shell and metal are inlaid either as panels or in a single continuous sheet over the surface of the piece. The design may be straightforward, such as a shell pattern or a basket of flowers, or it may be infinitely complex, with swirling tendrils of leaves, flowers and foliage, such as one finds, for example, in the "seaweed" patterns on longcase clocks of the William and Mary and Queen Anne periods.

This item has been included into following indexes:

Visually similar items

Antique French Louis XVI style bonheur du jour with mirror back, ormolu mounts and porcelain panels, the centre drawer opening to a tooled insert writing surface, 135 cm wide, 56 cm deep, 152 cm high

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

An important French mid 19th century satinwood, bonheur du jour, the centre with three drawers flanked cupboards, each with ormolu banding, and doors with painted porcelain panels, above a frieze drawer with enclosing inset leather writing slope, ormolu mo

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

A mahogany Napoleon III bedside table, late 1880s, the table with a red and white veined marble inset top above a panelled drawer and an open compartment supported on fluted pillars, a panelled cupboard below with paterae flanked by fluted panels, raised o

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.

A Victorian gilt metal mounted inlaid walnut bonheur du jour, circa 1880, 142 cm high, 88 cm wide, 50 cm deep

Sold by in for
You can display prices in $Au, $US, $NZ or Stg.