thumb|upright|Bonheur du jour, now in the [[Palace of Versailles, attributed to Jean Henri Riesener]]

A bonheur du jour (in French, bonheur-du-jour, meaning "daytime delight") is a type of lady's writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers about 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable. The bonheur du jour is always very light and graceful, with a decorated back, since it often did not stand against the wall (meuble meublant) but was moved about the room (meuble volant); its special characteristic is a raised back, which may form a little cabinet or a nest of drawers, or open shelves, which might be closed with a tambour, or may simply be fitted with a mirror. The top, often surrounded with a chased and gilded bronze gallery, serves for placing small ornaments. Beneath the writing surface there is usually a single drawer, Other choice examples of the time are inlaid with marquetry or panels of Oriental lacquer,

<gallery>

File:Camondo_ bonheur-du-jour.JPG|Bonheur du jour mounted with Sèvres plaques, stamped by Martin Carlin, commissioned by Poirier, the plaques dated 1766 (Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris)

File:Small writing desk (bonheur-du-jour) MET DP105398.jpg|Small writing desk (bonheur-du-jour) by Martin Carlin at the Met Museum, dated to 1768

File:Small writing desk (bonheur-du-jour) MET DP105397.jpg|Small writing desk (bonheur-du-jour) by Martin Carlin at the Met Museum, drawers open, circa 1774

File:Desk (bonheur du jour) MET 147821.jpg|Desk (bonheur du jour) by Roger Vandercruse, called Lacroix, circa 1780–90 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

</gallery>

Notes